Clients

I was at the Agile Business Conference a couple of weeks ago and amoungst lots of very interesting presentations was a comment by Scott Ambler about research into the costs of Big Requirements Up Front (BRUF). By BRUF he means trying to pin down exactly what an IT system (and I would extend this to any system e.g. business, government dept. etc) will do before developing it.

Click here for Scott’s article on the study. In summary BRUF typically leads to significant wastage of resource.

While we didn’t have access to this sort of detailed research at the time, Solution 7 and I knew that to deliver the National Packaging Waste Database in the very tight timescales required, an aglie approach had to be taken. We have met the deadlines and are on course to meet the final go-live date of 1st February 2007, so the approach has been effective. It is nice to know that it was the most efficient approach as well!

As Janey Lee Grace said on Steve Wright’s Radio 2 show this afternoon, recycling has become cool!

However what most people don’t fully appreciate, is that there is complex regulation and a multi-million pound industry behind recycling. Since 1997 there have been EU and UK targets to ensure that the majority of packaging is recycled. Nearly all companies that wrap their products in paper, plastic, cardboard, aluminium, steel etc. have an obligation to buy evidence that it has been recycled; this evidence is called a Packaging Recovery Note or PRN. Given that in 1997 web based applications were still unproven; these regulations were implemented using paper based processes.

The 4 government agencies involved, the re-cycling industry and the companies that produce packaging, decided to move the regulation of packaging waste on-line. The aims of the project are to improve information flow, reduce the opportunities for fraud and make the whole process more efficient. Jeremy Renwick from Kubernetes is the facilitator of the project called the National Packaging Waste Database or NPWD. Jeremy’s role is to manage the complex stakeholder relationships to ensure that the project is delivered on-time and to budget.

This week, the NPWD has delivered against its first key milestone, the production of the Q1 re-processor / exporter report. This summarises the recycling of a number of materials in the UK during the first 3 months of the year. It is generated from returns from re-processors and exporters of packaging waste which for the first time could be done on-line.

The full functionality of the system will be delivered in phases during 2006 with the aim of PRNs being fully electronic for 2007.

Another indicator that recycling is cool may be that “The Apprentice” winner, Michelle Dewberry, is reported to be setting up a division of Alan Sugar’s empire to enter the market for recycling electronics, where similar regulations are being introduced later this year.

For more information on the regulation of packaging waste see the DEFRA site