As project managers we know that one of the greatest challenge in managing projects is dealing with the unknown or unclear requirements. In most cases, project managers fall into the pressure trap from executives and proceed with the project based on their own estimations. I think it's not easy to excuse ourselves by saying that there will be a delay in starting the project because the requirements are unclear. What you think the best way in situations like this?
Go for Agile
Whether it's having unclear requirements, or lack of customer involvement in requirements development, it looks like agile practice can go a long way in mitigating risks. The good thing is that we can start with what we have and go for an iterative development cycle by requesting feedback from customers at every stage of development. And at the completion of iteration, team members can show stakeholders the completed work and review the results.
Try phased
Divide the project into different phases and work with the unknowns. I think when it's broken into smaller pieces they are much easier to tackle. Also, this will reduce risk and also ensure the involvement of the right people at the right time with the right tasks.
Add to risk
When the requirements are not clear we need to record that the estimates are based on unconfirmed assumptions. The next step is to report the risks to the leadership so that the issue can get the visibility and identify any impact to the timeline. Assign an owner and include a resolution target date. If the action owner confirms that assumptions are wrong, we can reestimate with a change management process.
Make assumptions
Normally the PM can start the project with some carefully planned assumptions based on the best knowledge on the domain. Then the team can build the estimates based on these assumptions. The key point is to ensure that these assumptions are available and visible to the project stakeholders, by recording them in the project documentation.
Communicate with stakeholders
As usual communication is the key in project management, so If the project manager does not communicate that the requirements are not clear to stakeholders, then there will be confusion and misunderstanding. Having clear requirements is always important to measure the project success, as it allows the team to compare planned and actual results
Summary
It's very clear from the above discussion that poor or unclear requirements may lead to project delay or failure. Poorly specified requirements can lead to, lost development time, missed project deadlines, poor quality of documentation the list of causes can go on and on.
