How do you prioritize and validate requirements?

1 What are requirements?

Requirements are the specifications of what the software product should do, how it should behave, and what constraints it should meet. Requirements can be functional, non-functional, or business-related, and they can come from various sources, such as users, stakeholders, regulations, or market research. Requirements can be expressed in different formats, such as user stories, use cases, scenarios, or models.

2 Why prioritize and validate requirements?

Prioritizing and validating requirements are essential steps in the SDLC, as they help to ensure that the software product meets the needs and expectations of the users and stakeholders, and that it delivers the most value in the shortest time and budget. Prioritizing requirements means deciding which ones are more important, urgent, or feasible to implement, and which ones can be deferred, modified, or eliminated. Validating requirements means checking that they are clear, consistent, complete, testable, and aligned with the project goals and scope.

3 How to prioritize requirements?

When it comes to prioritizing requirements, the choice of method and tool depends on the context, complexity, and size of the project. MoSCoW is a popular method which categorizes requirements into four groups: Must have, Should have, Could have, and Won't have. This helps to identify essential, desirable, and optional features of the software product. Kano is another method that classifies requirements into five types: Basic, Performance, Excitement, Indifferent, and Reverse. This helps to understand how each requirement affects user satisfaction and loyalty. Lastly, Value vs. Effort compares the perceived value and estimated effort of each requirement and plots them on a matrix. This helps to prioritize requirements with high value and low effort while avoiding or reconsidering those with low value and high effort.

4 How to validate requirements?

When validating requirements, there are many techniques and activities that can be used, depending on the stage, feedback, and quality of the requirements. Reviews can be conducted by the project team, users, stakeholders, or experts to identify any errors, gaps, ambiguities, or conflicts to improve clarity and completeness. Prototypes can be created to verify feasibility, usability, and functionality of the requirements based on user reactions and suggestions. Tests can also be used to define and execute test cases or scenarios based on the requirements to confirm that they meet quality and performance standards.

5 How to manage requirements changes?

Requirements may change during the SDLC due to various factors, such as user needs, stakeholder requests, market trends, or technical challenges. Managing requirements changes is a critical task, as it can affect the scope, cost, schedule, and quality of the software project. Therefore, it is important to establish a change control process that defines roles and responsibilities for requesting, approving, documenting, and communicating changes. Additionally, you should assess the impact of changes by analyzing potential benefits and risks of each change request. Lastly, communication and collaboration with the project team, users, and stakeholders is essential to maintain alignment and trust among participants. This helps to avoid or resolve any conflicts or misunderstandings.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?