Complex projects may seem as such; however, we as humans tend to make a project more complicated than it needs to be. To simplify a seemingly complex project, use of requirements and documentation best practices is vital.

Within a project, poor communication, scope creep, and lack of a project champion all contribute to project failure. Project failure typically stems from missing requirements, ambiguous requirements, or requirements that are incomplete, conflicting, or duplicative. If the appropriate requirements are not communicated effectively, the project is at risk to be developed in a manner that leaves the stakeholders unsatisfied. Scope creep will continue to build as requirements are revised to correct deficiencies. Without an organized and concise format, a non-technical project champion will not be able to understand the vision and goals set forth resulting in poor morale or a lack of upper management support.

Why are requirements important?
They establish a foundation for product vision, scope, cost, and schedule and they ultimately must target finished product quality and performance. Requirements provide stakeholders such as marketing, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and software engineering with one uniform vision and set of goals. Each stakeholder will be able to understand the requirements and hold realistic expectations for the final product. The final product should come with no surprises in terms of design and functionality, ultimately yielding a successful and profitable product launch.

Who is responsible for devising the requirements?
Each project stakeholder must be involved in the creation of the project requirements. Without input from each individual, it is possible that the project will lack the appropriate qualities. The following stakeholders should be involved in requirements generation:

• Marketing
• Business managers
• Electrical, mechanical, and software engineers
• Quality assurance
• Manufacturing development
• Manufacturing field service
• Customer management
• Customer service personnel
• Customer end user representatives

Think of approaching requirements like painting a picture when multiple artists (departments) must coordinate across the canvas. Individual brushstrokes (bits or engineering work) determine what the final painting (end product) will look like. If every artist starts painting their corner of the canvas without even a sketch of the overall landscape, a great deal of rework will be needed at each intersection of each artist’s work. Good requirements are the sketch of the painting created before the paint meets the brush. The requirements outline where each detail in the overall design of the work must be painted to create a consistent, cohesive canvas. Without that sketch, the best one can hope for is a painting that “works” in most places but lacks consistency across all parts and has some flaws where the different pieces of the work come together.

How should requirements be structured?
Implementing a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is the most efficient and practical way to devise requirements. The WBS should break out each main topic and allow for at least five levels of sub-content. Each requirement statement will contain one of three commands: shall, should, or may. These commands determine the level of importance of the implementation for that requirement in order for the product to fulfill its intended use. Requirements containing ‘shall’ must be included, those containing ‘should’ will be included if there is time, and those containing ‘may’ are up for consideration in the future.

The benefits of high quality requirements
A product that was developed with a dedicated requirement process will reap many added benefits. Products with well-written requirements will have fewer defects and cleaner designs. Identifying essential requirements from the start of the project will significantly reduce project rework and mitigate technical risks prior to the product’s release. As the project successfully passes through each state of the product development lifecycle, the overall cost will be reduced and the product’s speed to market will greatly increase.

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Precision Systems, Inc. (PSI) is a leading software consulting firm that will alleviate the stress of writing requirements. We offer these services to our clients and ensure that your project’s requirements are airtight and without any flaws. Our knowledge exchange and capture process is extremely thorough, ensuring requirements are not missed and that your project will remain on time, on scope, and on budget.

Interested in learning more about software requirements best practices? Schedule a Requirements Management and/or Documentation Management professional development course with our consultants today! 

Contact us online form or email info@psi-software.com for more information.