Requirements creep: the ideal pocketknife with 3000 functions (35)

This weekend, while driving in my car, I was listening to?some?music?I have on a?usb?stick.?Just randomly playing all kind of old stuff I have collected over the years.?On that?usb?stick there is also a pretty large collection of sketches from ‘Mannen?van de Radio’, or?translated ‘Men of the Radio’.?The Men of the Radio is a?(Dutch)?series of absurdist radio sketches from the VPRO radio program De?Avonden. Between 1995 and 1997?comedians Pieter?Bouwman, Hans?Teeuwen?(and sometimes Theo?Maassen) improvised a bit about the most diverse, but often bizarre subjects.?And when I say absurd and bizarre, I do not?exaggerate???. The skit I was listening to, reminded me of something most of us have seen and experienced in real life: requirements creep.??

Requirements creep refers to new requirements entering the specification after the requirements are considered complete. Any requirements appearing after this point are considered to be requirements creep.?In this blog I will not talk about whether this is a good or a bad thing, how to recognize it and or how to deal with it. The skit just made me think about the result of requirements creep, the?final?product,?what might happen.?

The skit is about Henk, who has made a pocketknife with 3000?(!)?functions.?Henk is?pretty proud.?It has everything, you can’t count the number of functions. It weighs tons, but (….) it also contains a truck which you can unfold, so it can transport itself. There is a small problem as the truck is too big. You can’t unfold the truck yourself, so Henk also added a crane. But they are not?placed in?a?convenient?position?in the pocketknife, so Henk hasn’t used these functions yet….?

Furthermore, I quote, ‘everything is there, it’s ideal for on the way’. You can do your groceries (it contains a supermarket with a liquor store alongside), there is a place to barbecue (including seats), a brothel, 5 restaurants, waterbeds (in several sizes), a jacuzzi. It is unbelievable, 3000 functions. It also has a corkscrew, but that one it too small for a big cork. And you?have to?turn the bottle as the?pocketknife is too heavy?to turn. As his pocketknife is so big, Henk had to buy a meadow to store his pocketknife. It is gigantic, the size of a sports hall. You have everything you want and need. Unfortunately, the pocketknife is very expensive: ‘What do you think a truck costs?”.?

And still Henk says, ‘ideal for on the way, everything on hand’.?You can’t take it with you, that’s a?small?pity. But he has also a solution for that: he just stays?in the neighborhood of?his pocketknife.?

His pocketknife even contains nail clippers. But if you don’t know where they are anymore, you can’t find them between the 3000 functions, you can just go to the supermarket.?

For every inconvenience,?Henk has a response.??

As I said earlier, absurd and bizarre….?But it really made me smile when I was comparing this skit with the?skits?I see in real life projects.?Stakeholders adding all kind of extra features and functions and forgetting the main goal.?Requirements?creep.?And still, like Henk, for every inconvenience a response. Hilarious!?

Enjoy your holidays!?

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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?engineer?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 (mostly 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)?