Requirements Gathering

Requirements Gathering 101 By Duncan Haughey, PMP Requirements gathering is an essential part of any expulsion and project management. Understanding fully what a project will deliver is critical to its success. This may sound like common sense, but surprisingly its an area that is often given far too miniscule attention. Many projects start with the barest headline list of requirements, only to find later the nodes needs have not been properly understood. One-way to avoid this problem is by producing a statement of requirements. This record is a guide to the main requirements of the project.It provides A succinct requirement specification for management purposes. A statement of key objectives a cardinal points specification. A description of the environment in which the system will work. Background information and references to other relevant material. Information on major excogitate constraints. The contents of the statement of requirements should be stable or change relativel y slowly. Once you have created your statement of requirements, ensure the customer and all other stakeholders sign-up to it and conceive that this and only this will be delivered.Finally, ensure you have cross-referenced the requirements in the statement of requirements with those in the project definition report to ensure there is no mismatch. 10 Rules for Successful Requirements Gathering To be successful at requirements gathering and to give your project an increased likelihood of success follow these rules 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Dont assume you know what the customer wants, ask. Involve the users from the start. Define and agree the scope of the project. Ensure requirements are specific, realistic and measurable. Gain clarity if there is any doubt. realise a clear, concise and thorough requirements document and share it with the customer. Confirm your understanding of the requirements with the customer (play them back). Avoid talking engineering or solutions until the requirements are fully understood. Get the requirements hold with the stakeholders before the project starts. Create a prototype if necessary to confirm or refine the customers requirements. Common Mistakes Basing a solution on complex or cutting edge technology and then discovering that it cannot easily be rolled out to the real world.Not prioritising the User Requirements, for example must have, should have, could have and would have, known as the MoSCoW principle. Not enough acknowledgment with real users and practitioners. Solving the problem before you know what it is. Lacking a clear understanding and making assumptions rather than asking. Requirements gathering is about creating a clear, concise and agreed set of customer requirements that allow you to provide exactly what they are looking for. Project Smart 2000-2011. All rights reserved. 1