Requirement Management: Definition, Process and Benefits

One size fits all may work in many industries, but not in the world of product development. Here, every undertaking is unique and has its own set of requirements. This is why a good requirements management tool is a critical part of any software product development.

Managed requirements help developers understand what the product should do and how it should work. It also makes it easier to track project progress and ensure that the final product meets customer expectations. Failure to properly manage requirements is the third most common reason for unsuccessful projects, accounting for 35% of failures.

In this article, we’re going to take a more holistic view of requirement management. We’ll start by defining the term and then move on to describe the process and benefits. By the end, you’ll have a clear understanding of this important concept.

Definition

Requirements management (RM) is the process of identifying, documenting, and tracking the requirements for a project, system, or product being developed. It helps to ensure that all stakeholders have a clear understanding of the project criteria and that these prerequisites are met during the project development life cycle.

RM is an important part of any project, and it must be done continuously throughout the product lifecycle. By taking the time to develop an RM plan, and using a reliable requirement management tool, you can avoid costly mistakes and ensure that your project is successful.

Key benefits of requirement management

When used effectively, RM can deliver the following pros to project teams:

• All-round lower development costs: One key advantage of RM is that it can help reduce the overall cost of developing a software product. By identifying the requirements early in the development process, organizations can avoid the need for costly rework later on.
• A lower defect rate: When all requirements are documented and understood, development teams can avoid many of the common software product errors, such as incorrect functionality, poor performance, and poor user experience. In addition, RM can help identify problems early in the development process, before they have a chance to impact the final product.
• Traceability: Traceability is the ability to trace the requirements of a software project from end to end. This means tracing from the initial planning stages through to the final delivery of the software project. This is important because it allows you to track any changes that occur during the software development process and ensures that all requirements are met.
• Reusability: This is especially important in large organizations where there are often many similar software projects being developed. Once the conditions for a software product have been identified and documented, they can be reused for future projects. This can save time and money by avoiding the need to start from scratch each time a new project is initiated.
• A minimum level of risk for safety-critical products: Safety-critical products are those where the failure of the product could result in serious injury or death. Minimizing risk for these types of products is of the utmost importance. RM can help to do this by ensuring that all requirements are traceable and that any changes to the details are carefully tracked and reviewed.
• Incorporates test cases into requirements: Having requirements tied to test cases helps to ensure that all conditions are tested and that any changes are properly propagated to the test cases. This can save a lot of time and effort and can help to avoid missed requirements.
• Global configuration management: Global configuration management is important for large projects with many stakeholders. It ensures that everyone is working from the same baseline and that changes are properly propagated and reviewed. This can save a lot of time and effort and can help to avoid misunderstandings and conflicts.
• Faster Delivery: Perhaps one of the most important requirement management benefits is that it can help you deliver your software project faster. By having a clear understanding of the project requirements and tracking them throughout the software development process, you can avoid delays and ensure that your project is delivered on time.

Who is responsible for it?

There are a few different roles involved in RM, including management, project manager, product manager, and product development teams. In smaller projects, one person may take on multiple roles. But in most cases, selecting and defining requirements fall under the purview of the product manager.

List of the best practices

There is no one silver bullet for RM, but there are some best practices that can help ensure success on any project.

• Consider using the Agile approach: Using the agile approach is a great way to start. With agile, requirements are organized to facilitate iterative development and allow for flexibility in responding to potential changes as each variant is delivered and evaluated by users and/or customers. This can help prevent scope creep and ensure that all participants are on the same page. Plus, when requirements change during the development process, teams can quickly adapt and make the necessary changes.
• Keep track of requirements throughout the development lifecycle: Keeping track of requirements throughout the development lifecycle is also critical. All too often, requirements are only addressed at the beginning of a project and then forgotten about. Connect requirements to tasks, source code, vulnerabilities, and test cases to provide complete end-to-end traceability. This will help ensure that no changes are made that could potentially impact the final product.
• Establish a baseline: Setting a baseline, a set of agreed-upon requirements that all stakeholders have signed off on at the beginning of the project is a smart step because requirements have the propensity to change often. This baseline can then be used as a reference point throughout the project, to ensure that no changes are made that could impact the final product.
• Implement variant/version management: Variant management means digitally managing the entire version and variant process as it progresses through the life cycle. Ensure that everyone has access to the most recent version of all your preconditions and that all documents are version-controlled (Using control access in a safety-critical environment).
• Set expectations and prioritize requirements: Before starting development, it’s important to set expectations with all participants. Once these expectations are set, you can then prioritize the requirements. Not all of them may be needed. Some may be essential to the project’s success while others may be nice-to-haves. Prioritizing them will help you focus on the most important features first.
• Manage requirements with a dedicated tool: Finally, tools can help organizations keep track of all the different prerequisites for a product, and ensure that they are being met. Using a dedicated tool can help you stay organized and ensure that all stakeholders are working off of the same requirements baseline.

Implementing these best practices will help you better manage requirements on your next software development project.

Final thoughts

Hopefully, this article has taught you some of the fine points of RM.

This process is a critical part of any project. Without proper requirements management, projects may experience scope creep, delays, and cost overruns. Plus, it will be difficult to ensure that the project will meet the needs of the customer or end user.

aqua QA management solution can help you optimize your requirement management process and deliver projects that are on time, on budget, and meet the demand of the users.

Get in touch to learn more.