Breathe L.I.F.E. into Requirements Management

Rob Saxon is a Project Management Professional, Certified Information Systems Auditor and a trained Six Sigma Specialist. Rob is currently developing methods to integrate project management into previously unexplored areas of business.

  Governance   Requirements Management   Scope Management  

Requirements gathering is critical--and potentially very challenging to do well. Requirements gathering and management can face many pitfalls. Requirements can be vague, gathered from the incorrect people, describe frivolities rather than requirements and can get stale. Poorly gathered and managed requirements can lead to inaccurate or incomplete designs, a solution that is not built to the needs of the business and ultimately an unhappy customer.

There are many ways to ensure that your projects do not fall into these traps. This article will outline four practices you can begin today on your projects to breathe L.I.F.E. into your requirements.

Long-form Descriptions: The System Shall

“Good description is a learned skill, one of the prime reasons you cannot succeed unless you read a lot and write a lot. It's not just a question of ‘how to’, you see; it's a question of ‘how much to’.” – Stephen King

A good first step in gathering and managing great requirements is to be detailed and thorough in your descriptions of the requirements. If you are a project manager--and you have business analysts on your project--make sure that you see samples of the requirements that they have written. Look for thorough descriptions of the need, and look for complete thoughts and phrases in each requirement. Here is an example of …

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