Requirements management for project managers is a technical competency that describes the process of capturing, analysing and confirming the stakeholder and user's wants and needs.
To work, requirements must be:
- documented
- a statement of the need that a project has to satisfy
- comprehensive
- clear and well structured
- traceable
- testable
To be competent in this area a project manager will need to:
- Gather, document and get agreement on project requirements and related acceptance criteria.
- Analyse and prioritise requirements, taking into consideration costs, business benefits and priorities.
- Facilitate discussions to agree the requirements (design) and the preferred solution with the key stakeholders usually including the sponsor.
- Develop detailed plans to deliver the requirements.
- Establish a common understanding of the requirements across the project team and all stakeholders.
Requirements management is akin to scope management. Getting this right up front in a project usually saves considerable time down the line. That said, a project manager skilled in this area knows that requirements change over the life of a project and there will be unavoidable changes that will need to be incorporated and the impacts of this understood.
Resources for Requirements Definition:
Links and downloads:
- OGC's Requirements Management overview
- OGC's IT Practitioner overview for requirements definition with a link to a downloadable Requirements Workbook pdf
Books:
- Writing Better Requirements
by Ian Alexander and Richard Stevens
- Mastering the Requirements Process by Suzanne Robertson and James C. Robertson
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