Document project requirements

- How do we take all of the information we've gathered from our stakeholders and use it to frame up a project? Well, we do that by documenting them in a requirements report, or what some people call the scope document. I think of the requirements report like a story that explains what our project is going to do and why it's important. It starts with an executive summary, then there should be some background information to explain why the project is important for the business and who the stakeholders are. Next, we can have sections to discuss the goals for the project and the description of the things that are in scope and out of scope. We can also describe the risks that we anticipate and any interdependencies with other projects in the organization. For technical projects, I like to include a glossary with definitions for key terms. Next, the report should lay out the requirements with enough detail but not too much detail. The key to documenting project requirements is to describe what you want a solution to do without explaining how to do it. That requires some judgment. So here are the three things that I look for in each requirement. First, is it clear and specific? Can someone on my team read that requirement and understand what it means without getting confused or without needing additional explanation? Second, is it thorough? Can we tell where the requirement came from, who documented it, and why it's important? And third, is it testable? Will we be able to know for sure whether the requirement has been met once we complete the project? If all three of those criteria are met, then it's probably a pretty well-written requirement. One other thing to keep in mind about requirements reports. They get revised and evolve over time, so make sure that you have a version control process for managing changes and for ensuring that everyone is working from the most current version. The requirements report is the foundation on which our whole project will be built, so doing a good job in documenting our requirements is key to preparing our whole team for success.