In my final article on requirements development, I want to discuss the processes involves in eliciting requirements from business stakeholders. There are several commonly held techniques that are used for gathering requirements from business customers. Some of these methods are specific to software systems or systems with some type of user interface, and some are applicable to › Continue reading…
Tag: Requirements
Tags: Brainstorming, Interviews, Prototypes, Requirements, Role playing, Storyboarding
In previous articles we’ve discussed requirements from several viewpoints. We’ve examined the characteristics and attributes of good requirements and differentiated them from business rules. We’ve discussed the merits of developing requirements in a cascading fashion from business goals through related objectives to enable prioritization. We’ve also looked at techniques and templates to aid in remembering categories of requirements to explore. Requirements are so important a topic I could probably discuss them for weeks, and who knows maybe I just will. Requirement documents can take on many fashions and styles and this week’s focus will be common formats for their expression and capture. › Continue reading…
In our previous 2 articles, we’ve discussed how business requirements should originate in a cascading manner from goals and objectives, to assist in assigning their relative priorities. We also reviewed tools that can be leveraged to help us remember the different areas or categories of requirements to capture. But now let’s step back and consider, just what is a requirement anyway, and what is it not? › Continue reading…
In her blog last week , Cindy Vandersleen talked about the challenges of gathering requirements and how the devil is always in the details. I think many people would agree with this assessment; I know I do. My best practice for gathering a comprehensive set of project requirements is to build a Requirements Template, and this week I’d like to share with you some tips for creating a model that your organization can use again and again to collect a comprehensive set of requirements and manage scope creep from the word “GO”. › Continue reading…
There have been many articles written about requirements development from many perspectives. I happen to believe this is one of the hardest tasks of any project, and one of the key contributors to scope creep. As the initial scope statement is defined, everyone believes they understand it. But the devil is always in the details. As detailed requirements are elaborated from the scope definition, the misunderstandings emerge and the estimates in time and resources get blown. Now as project manager you are faced with the all too familiar triple constraint dance of getting permission to add more resources, or time, or reducing some of the requirements. › Continue reading…
Some people think of those 3 letters and hold up the sign of the cross as if to ward off vampires. For some reason this seems to be one of those areas of project management work that meets with more resistance than most from beginning practitioners. I’m often asked “Do we really need to go to all the trouble of creating one of those?” There seems to be confusion about what a WBS is and why anyone would need one, and generally speaking a lot of fear about the effort involved to prepare one. › Continue reading…