What MoSCoW can tell us about better lectures

Don't mess with Putin!

That's the valuable lesson learned by Ukrainians, dissidents, opponents and competitors for Putin's cleptocracy.  But enough International Relations...

Picture courtesy of "Mr Norman" who actually went to Moscow to take it.

It is the MoSCoW developed by Oracle in the 1990's that this post focuses on.  MoSCoW is a simple mnemonic used to prioritise issues, features or components of a project.  The letters in capitals stand for features that a project:

• MUST have (the project fails without these essential elements being delivered)
• SHOULD have (elements of  importance that could be delivered in a second phase if necessary, when time and budget allows)
• COULD have and ( wish list items - elements of good practice and "nice to haves" that are not absolutely essential to the project but add benefit)
• WON'T have (desirable but clearly not part of the current project.  This helps to limit the objectives and outcome measures of a project.  These items can also be undesirable, perhaps detracting from the MUST, SHOULD and COULD haves).

So, let's apply this to the simple (sic) lecture in a University:

• MUST have: 1. a clear purpose; 2. relevant structure (including breaks); 3. interesting "real world" content;  4. opportunities for interaction and reflection.
• SHOULD have: 1. on-line support pre and post lecture; 2. links to or basis in key research in the area; 3. Lecturer enthusiasm; 4. Variety in presentation.
• COULD have: 1. "War stories" that give the lecturer and lecture credibility; 2. debates that encourage learning; 3. pointers to further reading; 4. lecture capture.
• WON'T have: 1. Too many slides; 2. students tuning out; 3. a focus on how brilliant the lecturer is; 4. poor communication.

That's 16 separate points but Cass Business School goes 23 better (well, they would wouldn't they) through the work of the late Shelagh Heffernan.

It is a privilege to be asked to lecture to and teach our future entrepreneurs, businessmen and women so let's take the lecturing part of the job very seriously.