Project success is dependent on gathering and clarifying the requirements for meeting project expectations.
Requirements Come From Stakeholders
Stakeholders are key to defining the requirements of the project to support the project goals and objectives. Achieving successful project outcomes and results is directly related to the clarification and quality of the project requirements.
Soliciting project requirements from stakeholders can often be challenging, especially for large complex projects. For this reason, various tools and techniques are promoted for obtaining, documenting, and prioritizing project requirements.
Tools and Techniques for Gathering Requirements
As we review the various tools and techniques used to gather requirements, consider the items in this list as tools in a toolbox.
The nature and specific objectives of the project will determine which tools or techniques are better suited for the project.
The following list describes some of the more commonly used tools and techniques:
- Facilitated workshops – These workshops are facilitated by the project manager or other designated facilitator. The purpose of the workshops is to solicit requirements and organize them for requirements documentation. The workshops should be organized to respect the time and input from each stakeholder attending the workshop. Multiple workshops may be required when there are too many stakeholders to be effectively facilitated in one session. These workshops may require the use of some of the other techniques identified in this list, such as brainstorming and focus groups.
- Brainstorming – Brainstorming is a process of generating ideas. Typically, brainstorming is conducted in several iterations. The first pass or iteration is to generate as many ideas as possible without criticizing the ideas or requirements (anything goes). To identify requirements, a second iteration or pass can be used to discuss, evaluate, and prioritize the ideas or requirements. Multiple iterations may be required to achieve consensus.
- Interviews – Interview stakeholders and experts to collect requirements. The project team will analyze the stakeholder register to determine which stakeholders should be interviewed. The project team should review the stakeholder list to determine those stakeholders who are experts or subject matter experts as the requirements from these individuals may be critical to project success. The team should prepare appropriately before the interviews. The preparation may include preparing a list of questions, analyzing the stakeholders’ profiles and needs, and preparing agendas. Interviews can also be used to uncover other stakeholders not already identified who may also contribute to requirements.
- Questionnaires and surveys – When large groups of stakeholders have been identified, questionnaires and surveys can be used to solicit requirements and needs. The project team should invest time in developing the questionnaires and surveys. When responses have been collected, they will be reviewed and analyzed to determine a list of requirements.
- Focus groups – Focus groups can be created when it is more feasible to have representatives from various stakeholder groups participate in a facilitated workshop. Effective facilitation is key to ensuring contributions from the representatives. The representatives should be empowered to represent the interests of the stakeholder groups.
- User stories – Many agile methods promote user stories as a technique to solicit user needs. A facilitator will work with the stakeholders to generate user stories. A user story is intentionally user-focused and not a detailed specification.? If properly written, the value of a user story is that it presents the user's need in a form that is easy to use and discuss. Care must be taken to ensure that the facilitator does not introduce bias into the process.
- Observations – Observations are used to obtain knowledge of processes, procedures, or operations from stakeholders. The observations are documented and analyzed to determine requirements. Team members may directly observe a stakeholder or expert perform a process or procedure. This technique is known as “job shadowing.”? The technique known as “reverse shadowing” is when the stakeholder or expert observes the project team member perform the job.
- Prototypes and storyboards – A prototype is a model used to obtain early feedback from stakeholders on a concept. Prototypes can save cost and time in the long run and can be useful for determining an early go/no-go for a concept. Storyboarding is a form of a prototype to visually represent a series of steps in a process. Feedback from stakeholders is used to determine new requirements or changes to existing requirements.
Prioritizing Requirements
Not all requirements are equal. Prioritizing requirements is important because the project will often focus on the high-priority requirements. Low-priority items may be dropped from the scope of the project due to budget or time restrictions. The following are some methods and techniques used to prioritize requirements:
- MoSCoW technique – this technique is used by the project team to rank requirements. The “M” in MoSCoW represents the “must have” requirements. The little “o” is just a filler and does not represent a category. The “S” represents the “should have” requirements. The “C” represents the “could have” category. The second little “o” does not represent a category. The “W” represents the “won’t have” category, unless a case can be built for the requirements to be included but even so, requirements in this category will be lower in priority.
- Kano model – the Kano model is a technique used to rank requirements for a product. Requirements are organized in the following groups:
o?? Basic – the essential features or functions of a product.
o?? Performance – features or functions that enhance the performance of a product.
o?? Excitement – features or functions that enhance the product and generate interest by the consumers.
o?? Indifferent – features or functions that are of little or no interest to the consumers of the product.
o?? Reverse – features or functions that may cause dissatisfaction by the consumers of the product.
- Paired comparison – this technique is used to rank requirements two at a time until all requirements have been ranked. This technique is more effective for a smaller group of requirements.
- 100 points method – this technique allows the participants to rank requirements by spending up to 100 points on requirements. After all participants have spent their 100 points, the points are totaled and the requirements can be ranked by points.?
Documentation
After all requirements have been collected and ranked, they will be documented in a document known as the requirements documentation or requirements register.? This documentation or register will be used to track the requirements through the project phases.
Summary
In summary, gathering, organizing, and ranking requirements from stakeholders is key to project success and ensuring quality outcomes and results.
Eddie Merla, PMI-ACP, PMP
P.S.: For prospective PMPs preparing for the PMP exam, understand the requirements gathering process and the various tools and techniques.
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