What are Requirements
From Requirements Management School
The term “Requirements” in software engineering is most easily defined as:
| | A set of prioritized needs elicited from all the stakeholders that together cover the functionality required for the software to be developed. |
Stakeholders:
Generally, three parties have a stake in the process of specifying requirements, and are commonly referred to as stakeholders:
- Business
- Users
- Software Developers
Some projects may have other stakeholders, in addition to these three. Defining requirements is an iterative process that gives the stakeholders the opportunity to explore, discuss, clarify, define and agree upon what the finished product is going to be.
Each requirement must be:
- Actionable
- Measurable
- Testable
- Related directly to business processes/goals -or- Meets the needs of an opportunity that has been identified by the business
- Documented with enough detail to ensure that the system can be designed with no ambiguity
The likelihood of a software development project coming in on budget, on time and satisfying the needs of the stakeholders is greatly increased when all stakeholders work together towards a shared vision brought about by insight into each other’s perspectives/needs.
On the other hand, a lack of detailed requirements can lead to issues and tension between the stakeholders during the project. In the worst case scenario, it may lead to the development of a system that is not fit for the desired purpose.
As a result, requirements are an integral part of the initiation stage of a software development project. A robust process at the requirements definition stage helps to mitigate any ambiguity allowing for a smoother running and more clearly focused project.
An important to point to keep in mind: Just as it would be unrealistic to embark on any software development project without a set of requirements, it would be equally as unrealistic to assume that once identified that the requirements would be a fixed target until the project is delivered. The requirements will in fact change as issues arise during the project or as part of normal business practice evolution.
