Select and Approve Requirements
Selecting and approving requirements is pivotal in ensuring that stakeholders have a mutual understanding and agreement on what the product team will build. This process guides decisions about the construction or modification of a product.
Key Benefit
By facilitating this process, stakeholders obtain authorization, guiding how and when to construct or amend a solution.
Understanding Approval of Requirements
It's crucial to ascertain that the requirements paint an accurate picture of the product team's directive. Approved requirements lead to the creation of the requirements baseline, a crucial boundary that encompasses all sanctioned requirements pertaining to various facets like the solution, project phase, release, iteration, and others.
Predictive Life Cycle: In this lifecycle, once the baseline is set, alterations can only materialize through the stipulated change management procedures.
Adaptive Life Cycle: In this lifecycle, requirements get their baseline status once they are tagged for the upcoming or later iterations. Changes here are permissible only if there's mutual team agreement or if the product owner chooses to halt the user story, task, or potentially the entire iteration. If user stories or tasks are halted, they either return to the product backlog for later assessment or get marked as redundant.
Modalities of Approval
The approval process can differ based on the organizational structure or the nature of the project.
Formal Approval: Some entities mandate an official sign-off, for instance, on a business requirements document.
Informal Approval: Certain projects or organizations might be content with a verbal nod for requirement approval.
Adaptive Projects Approval: For adaptive projects, approved requirements might be symbolized by a backlog list primed for development or could be the aftermath of iteration planning.
Achieving Consensus on Requirements
Given the importance of the requirements, it's imperative that authorized stakeholders achieve a consensus on their accuracy and completeness. Discrepancies in requirements are not rare. Achieving consensus often entails negotiation. The role of business analysis here is to mediate stakeholder discussions, harmonizing varying perspectives, resolving requirement conflicts, and orchestrating a collectively agreed conclusion leading to approval.
Tracking approvals is essential, and in scenarios where stakeholders exhibit reluctance to give their approval, it's crucial to delve into their reservations and address them. The green light for further work largely depends on the requirement's endorsement. If a mutual consensus is elusive within the team, then the stipulations laid out in the stakeholder engagement approach, which details the hierarchical authority concerning requirement approval, come into play.
Inputs
Product Scope
The product scope encompasses the features, functions, and characteristics of the final product or solution. It provides a boundary and a clear description of what the final deliverable will and will not include. The scope is essential for understanding the requirements that align with the desired solution and helps in the process of selecting and approving requirements.
Relationships and Dependencies
Relationships and dependencies refer to the interconnectedness and interdependence of requirements. Understanding these connections is crucial for ensuring that no essential requirement is overlooked and that all requirements align cohesively with the solution's overall goal.
Stakeholder Engagement and Communication Approach
This approach outlines how stakeholders will be engaged and communicated with throughout the project. Effective stakeholder engagement and communication are vital for gathering feedback, ensuring alignment, and gaining approval for selected requirements.
Validated Requirements and Other Product Information
Validated requirements have been reviewed and deemed to be aligned with the business needs and objectives. Having this set of requirements ensures that the project is on the right track and that the selected requirements have undergone a thorough validation process.
Verified Requirements and Other Product Information
Verified requirements have undergone a comprehensive check to ensure their correctness, consistency, and completeness. These requirements are ready for the approval process as they have passed rigorous verification checks.
Tools and Techniques
Backlog Management
Backlog management involves organizing, prioritizing, and updating a list of tasks or requirements (often termed as 'backlog') that need to be addressed. It ensures that the most critical requirements are tackled first and helps in streamlining the selection process.
Collaborative Games
Collaborative games are interactive activities that involve stakeholders in the requirements process. They can be a creative way to engage stakeholders, encourage participation, and facilitate the selection and approval of requirements.
Definition of Ready
The "Definition of Ready" establishes a set of criteria that a requirement must meet before it can be considered for implementation. It ensures that only thoroughly vetted and prepared requirements move forward in the process.
Delphi
The Delphi technique is a structured method for gathering expert opinions. It is iterative and involves multiple rounds of questionnaires to achieve consensus on requirements.
Facilitated Workshops
Facilitated workshops are structured sessions where stakeholders collaborate to define, refine, and approve requirements. They offer a platform for open discussion, brainstorming, and decision-making.
Force Field Analysis
Force field analysis is a technique to identify forces that either drive or restrain a change or decision. In the context of requirements, it helps in understanding the pros and cons of each requirement.
Group Decision-Making Techniques
These techniques involve multiple stakeholders in the decision-making process, ensuring that a broad perspective is considered when selecting and approving requirements.
Iteration Planning
Iteration planning is a process where requirements are scheduled for specific iterations or phases of the project. It ensures that requirements are tackled in a structured and systematic manner.
Prioritization Schemes
These schemes provide structured methods to rank requirements based on their importance, urgency, or value. Prioritizing ensures that essential requirements are addressed first.
Requirements Management Tool
Such tools assist in capturing, organizing, tracking, and managing requirements. They can be crucial in handling a large number of requirements and ensuring that they are appropriately managed throughout their lifecycle.
Story Mapping
Story mapping is a visualization technique that arranges user stories to provide a more comprehensive view of how they fit into the overall user experience. It helps in understanding the flow and sequence of requirements.
Outputs
Approved Requirements
These are the requirements that have been selected and given a green light for implementation. They have undergone a comprehensive process of selection, vetting, and validation and are aligned with the project's goals and objectives.