The first step in any project is finding out what the users actually want.

Requirements management is the process of documenting, testing and analysing the statement of stakeholder wants and needs.
Requirements are the statement of need that a project has to satisfy, theystate the problem to be solved and define the scope of the solution.

However users are not always able to communicate what they want clearly, and the key is to gather the requirements while allowing flexibility for the chosen solution.

Requirements gathering is a creative process and involves careful listening, brainstorming and elicitation. A good requirement is:

• Clearly defined
• Testable
• Agreed by all stakeholders

There are two types of requirements:

Functional Requirements

These are the statement of capabilities, they express what the intended product must do in terms of behaviour. They are binary in nature, they are either present or absent.

Non Functional Requirements

These are the quality attributes of the functional attributes, they are often called soft requirements. They include things such as speed, efficiency and longevity. They should still be testable and clearly defined. A product may fulfill its use but still not be usable to clients, so non functional requirements address this space.

Tomorrow I will be looking at the process of good requirements gathering.

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 20th, 2009 at 3:10 pm and is filed under General.
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