{"id":23558,"date":"2017-01-19T09:00:07","date_gmt":"2017-01-19T16:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/?p=23558"},"modified":"2023-01-12T16:54:38","modified_gmt":"2023-01-13T00:54:38","slug":"rm-101-why-successful-teams-do-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/legacy\/blog\/2017\/01\/19\/rm-101-why-successful-teams-do-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Requirements Management 101 & Why Successful Teams Do It"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Too often products fail due to poorly managed requirements. A requirement is a document that defines what you are looking to achieve or create \u2013 it identifies what a product needs to do, what it should look like, and explains its functionality and value. Without clearly defining requirements you could produce an incomplete or defective product. It\u2019s imperative that the team be able to access, collaborate, update, and test each requirement through to completion, as requirements naturally change and evolve over time during the development process.<\/p>\n
There are four fundamentals that every team member and stakeholder can benefit from understanding:<\/p>\n
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Planning good requirements: \u201cWhat the heck are we building?\u201d <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
A good requirement should be valuable and actionable; it should define a need as well as provide a pathway to a solution. Everyone on the team should understand what it means. Good requirements need to be concise and specific, and should answer the question, \u201cwhat do we need?\u201d Rather than, \u201chow do we fulfill a need?\u201d Good requirements ensure that all stakeholders understand their part of the plan; if parts are unclear or misinterpreted the final product could be defective or fail.<\/p>\n
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Collaboration and buy-in: \u201cIs everyone in the loop? Do we have approval on the requirements to move forward?\u201d <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Trying to get everyone in agreement can cause decisions to be delayed, or worse, not made at all. \u00a0Team collaboration can help in receiving support on decisions and in planning good requirements. Collaborative teams continuously share ideas, typically have better communication and tend to support decisions made because there is a shared sense of commitment and understanding of the goals of the project. It\u2019s when developers, testers or other stakeholders feel \u201cout of the loop\u201d that communication issues arise, people get frustrated and projects get delayed.<\/p>\n
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Traceability & change management: \u201cWait, do the developers know that changed?\u201d <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Traceability is a way to organize, document and keep track of the life of all your requirements from initial idea through to testing. By tracing requirements, you are able to identify the ripple effect changes have, see if a requirement has been completed and whether it\u2019s being tested properly, provide the visibility needed to anticipate issues and ensure continuous quality, and ensure your entire team stays connected both upstream and downstream.\u00a0 Managing change is important and prevents \u201cscope creep\u201d, or unplanned changes in development that occur when requirements are not clearly captured, understood and communicated. The benefit of good requirements is a clear understanding of the end product and the scope involved.<\/p>\n
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Quality assurance: \u201cHello, did anyone test this thing?\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Concise, specific requirements can help you detect and fix problems early, rather than later when it\u2019s much more expensive to fix. In fact, it can cost up to 100 times more to correct a defect later in the development process after it\u2019s been coded, than it is to correct early on while a requirement. By integrating requirements management into your quality assurance process, you can help your team increase efficiency and eliminate rework.<\/p>\n
Requirements management can sound like a complex discipline, but when you boil it down to a simple concept \u2013 it\u2019s really about helping teams answer the question, \u201cDoes everyone understand what we\u2019re building and why?\u201d \u00a0When everyone is collaborating together and has full context and visibility to the discussions, decisions and changes involved with the requirements throughout the product development lifecycle, that\u2019s when success happens consistently and you maintain continuous quality. \u00a0Not to mention the process is smoother with less friction and frustration along the way for everyone involved. And, isn\u2019t that something we\u2019d all benefit from?<\/p>\n
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