Architecting the Industrial Internet

Gathering CSFs

It is likely that the company and its lines of business have mission statements and clearly stated goals. These are sometimes stated in annual reports and during industry analyst briefings. You might not have paid attention to these in the past, but they are extremely useful in understanding the critical success factors that could help define a project.

CSFs are the most important goals that must be achieved to move the business forward in fulfilling its mission and strategy. Each line of business will have unique CSFs in describing how they will help the company reach its goals. That said, there are some general business-related questions that you can ask regardless of the line of business to tee up interesting dialogues. ...