The 7 habits of highly effective requirements engineers (49)

It has been over 20 years ago that I first read Stephen Coveys “The 7 habits of highly effective people”. The first edition of this book was published in 1989 and more than 25 million copies of it have been sold. In the book Covey describes an approach to effectively attain goals in life, in work, in everything you undertake. Like many self-help books it may give the impression to be the, up till now non-existent, silver bullet, but one must admit, after so many people have bought and read this, there must be value in it.

The 7 habits are like principles that, when you apply them, help you achieve great things for many areas in your life. Covey encourages the readers to look at the various roles they have (a father, a partner, a daughter, a child, an employee, a student) and to apply the seven habits on that role. This role might as well be a requirements engineer, which raises the question what would be the 7 habits of highly effective requirements engineers.

The original 7 habits are distributed in 3 groups focusing on independence, interdependence and continual improvement. Let me try to explain those habits in the context of requirements engineering.

The independence habits aim at managing yourself. Habit 1 is “Be proactive” which is certainly an important habit for a requirements engineer. Requirements aren’t offered to you on a silver plate. They are out there somewhere, in minds of people who may be completely unconscious of their existence. You have to take action to gather those requirements. Ask for them, and if you don’t get any answers, look for the answers yourself, e.g. by observation. Habit 2 says ‘Begin with the end in mind’. This could imply that, although the user stories you work with are great to support the development process of a product, you should be aware of what is needed in the end. Once the product is ready do you also need a document describing which requirements the product fulfils. Habit 3 ‘Put first things first’ can be interpreted as make sure your backlog is prioritized. The stories for the first sprints have to offer sufficient detail, the others can wait. Did you think of defining a Minimal Viable Product? What must that entail? And how about a Minimal Marketable Product?

The next 3 habits are the interdependence habits and have to do with interaction with other people. In the case of requirements engineering these other people can be the developers, a product owner, customers, end users. Habit 4 states: ‘Think win-win’. For me that means that a good set of requirements (or stories) provide common understanding of the product to be developed. Good requirements help both the customer get what they want because they help developers understand what they want. Developing that product in as few as possible iterations, with not too many changes is beneficial to both parties. Habit 5 tells us to first seek to understand, then to be understood. This is what requirements engineers have to be really good at: listening to the stakeholders, trying to understand the problems they have to solve and the problems they want you to solve for them. Practice active listening: ask a question, listen to the answer, check if you understood it correctly by rephrasing it (or by building a prototype), then ask again and ask more. That will almost automatically bring you to the sixth habit: synergize. Work as a team, you the requirements engineer together with the stakeholders, you together with the developers, cooperation is key.

Personally I am convinced these 6 habits can help you in almost any area in life. But there were seven habits.

Habit 7 is about ‘Sharpening the saw’. It is about staying in good shape so you are fit to do your job. This can mean that you have to stay informed on the latest software development methods, or on new elicitation methods via the cloud or on new requirements management tools. It can also mean you have to practice at becoming a better interviewer or a better workshop facilitator. It means you have to continue developing and training yourself. There are lots of things you can learn an practice. Have a look at our website for some of them. And if you don’t find what you are looking for practice the first habit: be pro-active, give us a call or send us an e-mail. At Improve QS we are always glad to help.

This article is an article in the series about the versatile profession of requirements engineering. Every week a colleague of?Improve Quality Services?will share with the reader an aspect of requirements engineers from daily experience. Every article begins with a picture of a bridge. The bridge visualizes connecting two sides. In requirements engineering connecting different stakeholders assisting the stakeholders in collaboration and communication about requirements.

Articles published till date (articles 1 till 28 in Dutch):

1.?Requirements?(Piet de Roo, December 1, 2020)

2.?Shared Understanding?(Kaspar van Dam, December 8, 2020)

3.?Context en requirements structuur?(Patrick Duisters, December 15, 2020)

4.?Van Twin Peaks naar Twin Pines?(Patrick Duisters, December 22, 2020)

5.?Modellen om te bouwen?(Erwin Pasmans, January 5, 2021)

6.?Minimaal Modelleren?(Piet de Roo, January 12 2021)

7.?Begrip en Vertrouwen?(Benjamin Timmermans, January 19, 2021)

8.?En wat als de specialisten het niet met elkaar eens zijn??(Benjamin Timmermans, January 26, 2021)

9.?Waar zijn we nou helemaal mee bezig?!?(Erwin Pasmans, February 2, 2021)

10.?Soft skills? Keiharde wetenschap!?(Kaspar van Dam, February 9, 2021)

11.?… en nu enkele feiten: Requirement Attributen?(Patrick Duisters, February 16, 2021)

12.?Waarom, waarom, waarom, ...?(Piet de Roo, February 23, 2021)

13.?Een leven lang zorgen?(Erwin Pasmans, March 2, 2021)

14.?Casus: Requirements management bij een distributiecentrum in aanbouw?(Eduard Hartog, March 11, 2021)

15.?Iteratief versus Incrementeel?(Kaspar van Dam, March 16, 2021)

16.?Requirements of-the-shelf: geen maatwerk, geen requirements??(Erwin Pasmans, March 23, 2021)

17.?Creatief door constraints?(Piet de Roo, March 30, 2021)

18.?3 Amigo’s?(Patrick Duisters, April 13, 2021)

19.?4 Amigos (of meer?)?(Patrick Duisters, April 20, 2021)

20.?Requirements, de CoronaCheck-app en Fred Flintstone?(Benjamin Timmermans, April 28, 2021)

21.?Meer kapiteins op 1 schip (of staan de beste stuurlui aan wal)??(Erwin Pasmans, May 4, 2021)

22.?Hoe SMART is SMART??(Benjamin Timmermans, May 11, 2021)

23.?Jip en Janneke?(Piet de Roo, May 18, 2021)

24.?Laten we het simpel houden?(Patrick Duisters, May 25, 2021)

25.?Dilemma's?(Erwin Pasmans, June 1, 2021)

26.?Living Documentation Event 2021?(Kaspar van Dam, June 8, 2021)

27.?Non-functional Requirements?(Patrick Duisters, June 15, 2021)

28.?The Big Shift?(Kaspar van Dam, June 22, 2021)

29.?Why do we have these problems over and over again??(Erwin Pasmans, June 29, 2021)

30.?Non-functionals, who cares??(Benjamin Timmermans, July 6, 2021)

31.?Usability and UX, a revelation I had?(Benjamin Timmermans, July 13, 2021)

32.?How??(Piet de Roo, July 20, 2021)

33.?Requirements and design??(Erwin Pasmans, July 27, 2021)

34.?Tom's people skills to deal with the customers?(Piet de Roo, August 3, 2021)

35.?Requirements creep: the ideal pocketknife with 3000 functions?(Benjamin Timmermans, August 10, 2021)

36.?Requirements creep: good or bad??(Benjamin Timmermans, August 17, 2021)

37.?End with the begin in mind?(Piet de Roo, August 24, 2021)

38.?Requirements: Do we really need them??(Kaspar van Dam, August 31, 2021)

39.?Begin with the End in Mind?(Patrick Duisters, September 7, 2021)

40.?Solving the right problem?(Piet de Roo, September 14, 2021)

41.?Adapt requirements (and your process) to your development approach!?(Erwin Pasmans, September 21, 2021)

42.?ISTQB and IREB are joining forces?(Piet de Roo, September 28, 2021)

43.?New stakeholders?(Benjamin Timmermans, October 5, 2021)

44.?Just start over again?(Erwin Pasmans, October 12, 2021)

45.?Booking a desk at the office?(Piet de Roo, October 19, 2021)

46.?Don't drive away in your prototypes?(Erwin Pasmans, October 26, 2021)

47.?Edward de Bono?(Piet de Roo, November 2, 2021)

48. Do you like games? Seriously? (Piet de Roo, November 9, 2021)