{"id":30626,"date":"2018-09-06T11:44:28","date_gmt":"2018-09-06T18:44:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/?p=30626"},"modified":"2023-01-12T16:52:54","modified_gmt":"2023-01-13T00:52:54","slug":"how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/legacy\/blog\/2018\/09\/06\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\/","title":{"rendered":"How do you know when a requirement is obsolete?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Requirements obsolescence is an issue brought about by disruption in technology.<\/p>\n

Complex development projects can include hundreds of requirements and span multiple years. In that time, a lot can change in the market and with a product\u2019s intended use and design.<\/p>\n

So how should you go about questioning requirements identified at the beginning of a project to determine whether they should make it into the final product?<\/p>\n

We put this question to three requirements experts in a recent webinar on disrupting requirements<\/a>, and here\u2019s what we learned.<\/p>\n

Focus on the Requirement\u2019s Purpose<\/strong><\/p>\n

First of all, when considering if a requirement is legitimate or obsolete, Colin Hood, Principal at Colin Hood Systems Engineering<\/a>, urges to identify the purpose of the requirement itself.<\/p>\n

To do this, you must separate the \u201cwhat\u201d from the \u201chow.\u201d Ask yourself: Is the requirement a basic statement on what you\u2019re trying to do? Or does the requirement state how to do a certain thing?<\/p>\n

So long as the requirement is a problem statement outlining the desired outcome you want to achieve \u2013 i.e., the former of the two questions above \u2013 it shouldn\u2019t have a specific lifespan and could likely exist forever.<\/p>\n

In this case, it would be the responsibility of the product owner to decide if and when this requirement would go into the backlog and eventually be realized in the evolving product.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, if you answered affirmatively to the second question \u2013 meaning the requirement\u2019s purpose is to tell you how to execute a solution \u2013 the requirement may face obsolescence very quickly.<\/p>\n

The Problem with a Solution-Based Requirement<\/strong><\/p>\n

Requirements that are solution-based are often technology-dependent. With the rate of change occurring in today\u2019s world, technology is easily disrupted. What was once necessary may no longer be supported.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, requirements that focus on how to get work done take you into the solution domain too quickly and can restrict the design phase.<\/p>\n

Christer Fr\u00f6ling, Scandinavian Marketing Lead at the Reuse Company<\/a>, cautions that when gathering requirements<\/a>, going from the problem side to the solution side too quickly can cause you to miss important contextual information and yield low-quality requirements. The results can include inaccurate cost estimates and costly overruns due to an incomplete scope of the problem.<\/p>\n

Bottom line: You don\u2019t want your team spending time and budget working on an obsolete requirement.<\/p>\n

Understanding the Purpose<\/strong><\/p>\n

Michael Jastram, Sr. Solutions Architect at Jama Software, reminds us that functional modeling can also be used to separate the general function from how it is being done on a technology level.<\/p>\n

This distinction could help you salvage a seemingly obsolete requirement by uncovering a real understanding of what the requirement aims to achieve apart from how the requirement suggests it be executed.<\/p>\n

In addition to making some requirements obsolete, change affects a lot of the development process. To hear requirements experts discuss and debate what that means for the requirements-gathering process, traceability and the future of requirements, listen to our webinar, Disrupting Requirements: Finding a Better Way<\/a>. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How should you go about questioning requirements identified at the beginning of a project to determine whether they should make it into the final product?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":44721,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[49],"industry":[],"class_list":["post-30626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-requirements-management","tag-best-practices"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow do you know when a requirement is obsolete? - Jama Software<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/06\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How do you know when a requirement is obsolete?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Expert advice on determining whether a requirement should make it into the final product.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/06\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jama Software\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-09-06T18:44:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-13T00:52:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jama Software\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"How do you know when a requirement is obsolete?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Expert advice on determining whether a requirement should make it into the final product.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.jamasoftware.com\/www\/uploads\/2018\/09\/06132919\/Social-Share_-Blog-Post-Template-1024x512-29.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jama Software\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/09\\\/06\\\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/09\\\/06\\\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jama Software\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/59a942565a528aa5f56b240c9342fc7f\"},\"headline\":\"How do you know when a requirement is obsolete?\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-09-06T18:44:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-13T00:52:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/09\\\/06\\\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":517,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/09\\\/06\\\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/media\\\/2018\\\/09\\\/Blog_-Featured-Image-1024x512-29.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"best practices\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Requirements & Requirements Management\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/09\\\/06\\\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/09\\\/06\\\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\\\/\",\"name\":\"How do you know when a requirement is obsolete? - Jama Software\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/09\\\/06\\\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/09\\\/06\\\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/media\\\/2018\\\/09\\\/Blog_-Featured-Image-1024x512-29.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-09-06T18:44:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-13T00:52:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/59a942565a528aa5f56b240c9342fc7f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/09\\\/06\\\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/09\\\/06\\\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/09\\\/06\\\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/media\\\/2018\\\/09\\\/Blog_-Featured-Image-1024x512-29.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/media\\\/2018\\\/09\\\/Blog_-Featured-Image-1024x512-29.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":512},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/09\\\/06\\\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How do you know when a requirement is obsolete?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Jama Software\",\"description\":\"Jama Connect\u00ae #1 in Requirements Management\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/59a942565a528aa5f56b240c9342fc7f\",\"name\":\"Jama Software\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6e1172c5d380b2a20a9e5b5a4c0fb4e38bc497dc27ce100567da29abe37001af?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6e1172c5d380b2a20a9e5b5a4c0fb4e38bc497dc27ce100567da29abe37001af?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6e1172c5d380b2a20a9e5b5a4c0fb4e38bc497dc27ce100567da29abe37001af?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jama Software\"},\"description\":\"Subject matter experts from Jama Software provide guidance and best practices on requirements management, test management, compliance and regulation, risk management, and complex product and software development.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/jama-software\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How do you know when a requirement is obsolete? - Jama Software","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/06\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How do you know when a requirement is obsolete?","og_description":"Expert advice on determining whether a requirement should make it into the final product.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/06\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\/","og_site_name":"Jama Software","article_published_time":"2018-09-06T18:44:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-01-13T00:52:54+00:00","author":"Jama Software","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"How do you know when a requirement is obsolete?","twitter_description":"Expert advice on determining whether a requirement should make it into the final product.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/static.jamasoftware.com\/www\/uploads\/2018\/09\/06132919\/Social-Share_-Blog-Post-Template-1024x512-29.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jama Software","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/06\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/06\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\/"},"author":{"name":"Jama Software","@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/#\/schema\/person\/59a942565a528aa5f56b240c9342fc7f"},"headline":"How do you know when a requirement is obsolete?","datePublished":"2018-09-06T18:44:28+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-13T00:52:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/06\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\/"},"wordCount":517,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/06\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/media\/2018\/09\/Blog_-Featured-Image-1024x512-29.jpg","keywords":["best practices"],"articleSection":["Requirements & Requirements Management"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/06\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\/","url":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/06\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\/","name":"How do you know when a requirement is obsolete? - Jama Software","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/06\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/06\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/media\/2018\/09\/Blog_-Featured-Image-1024x512-29.jpg","datePublished":"2018-09-06T18:44:28+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-13T00:52:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/#\/schema\/person\/59a942565a528aa5f56b240c9342fc7f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/06\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/06\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/06\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/media\/2018\/09\/Blog_-Featured-Image-1024x512-29.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/media\/2018\/09\/Blog_-Featured-Image-1024x512-29.jpg","width":1024,"height":512},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/06\/how-do-you-know-when-a-requirement-is-obsolete\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How do you know when a requirement is obsolete?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/","name":"Jama Software","description":"Jama Connect\u00ae #1 in Requirements Management","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/#\/schema\/person\/59a942565a528aa5f56b240c9342fc7f","name":"Jama Software","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6e1172c5d380b2a20a9e5b5a4c0fb4e38bc497dc27ce100567da29abe37001af?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6e1172c5d380b2a20a9e5b5a4c0fb4e38bc497dc27ce100567da29abe37001af?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6e1172c5d380b2a20a9e5b5a4c0fb4e38bc497dc27ce100567da29abe37001af?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jama Software"},"description":"Subject matter experts from Jama Software provide guidance and best practices on requirements management, test management, compliance and regulation, risk management, and complex product and software development.","url":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/author\/jama-software\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30626"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=30626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}