Requirements: Get It Right the First Time

Kenneth has 14 years of healthcare experience in government and private industry. Over eight years of experience managing healthcare IT projects, operations, contracts, and personnel. His work experience includes project management, contracts and procurements, data analysis, claims adjudication, business writing, and business process modeling. Kenneth was certified in 2006 as a Project Management Professional.

  Requirements Management   Scope Management  

Many studies have been written about project failures that resulted from requirements not being defined correctly. While there are many reasons for those failures and many methods of defining and managing requirements, the problems typically result from not getting it right the first time. This results in confusion during the project--and possibly a lot of rework that has to be done during the course of trying to get the requirements right after the work has already begun.

While there are many methods (and some very good classes) on managing requirements, here are a few key concepts to keep in mind that will help you get it right the first time.

Two-Way Communication
When it comes to requirements, it is vital for the project team to maintain healthy two-way communication. What this means is that one group does not dictate requirements to another group. For example, if a company has been hired to design a new system, then the client will be providing the requirements to the contractor. But if the client comes up with all of the requirements in a vacuum without consulting with the contractor, then they may end up with a system that cannot be implemented by their deadline--or they may come up with requirements that are counter-productive and the system will break if everything is implemented.

On the other hand, the contractor cannot verify the requirements alone …

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