In order for any project to be successful, it is important to have a clear and concise understanding of the requirements. This means that everyone involved in the project – from the client to the contractor – knows what is expected of them. A Requirements Review or Walk-through is a meeting where you gather all of your stakeholders together and go over the requirements document line-by-line, to ensure that there are no misunderstandings. In this blog post, we will discuss what a Requirements Review is, the process involved, and some tools you can use to make it as effective as possible!
What is Requirements Review?
A requirements review is a manual process that involves people from both client and contractor organizations. They check the requirements document for anomalies and omissions. The review process may be managed in the same way as program inspections. Alternatively, it may be organized as a broader activity with different people checking different parts of the document.
The purpose of a requirements review is to ensure that:
- The product will meet the needs of the customer
- All stakeholders understand what is required
- The product can be built within the given constraints
- There are no contradictions or gaps in the requirements
Requirements reviews usually take place at key milestones throughout the project lifecycle, such as after the requirements have been gathered and before design begins. However, they can be conducted at any time if there are concerns about the accuracy or completeness of the requirements.
Requirements Review Objectives
“So, I send it out for everyone to review coz it is beneficial for them and I get better inputs!” Truthfully, people have various priorities and are constantly multitasking in today’s environment. Opening up and reviewing that document isn’t likely to be the most interesting or pressing item on their list. Few stakeholders will give their greatest input in this way. Those who do will undoubtedly be diligent enough to read the paper ahead of time and prepare themselves.
“Email sign-offs are reliable as well as traceable!” A walk-through of the requirements does not prevent you from signing off with an email. If your goal is to obtain a passive sign-off and cover your rear, rather than really executing the alignment that the sign-off implies, you are doing your technology team a disservice.
“Stakeholders got no time!” The first thing to check is whether you’ve got the wrong stakeholders. Or you’re working on the incorrect project. One of these problems might not be your fault. However, if those who will profit and contribute to the project can’t spend 2 hours in a room determining what the project is supposed to accomplish, there are much bigger issues at stake.
During a meeting, when you sit down to review a requirements specification, you know for certain that people are really reading it. You’ll also notice that one remark begets another, which is useful in finding new requirements before it’s too late. Furthermore, during a review meeting, there is accountability – if you ask your stakeholders to look you in the eye and confirm that they are prepared to continue with the project beyond this point.
“Proud Agilians!” It’s also critical to conduct this review at the start of each sprint. Rather than reading larger files for the entire project, you’ll often be looking at lists like the product backlog ranked items for the next several months or user stories for the upcoming sprint.
Techniques for Conducting a Requirements Review
There are a few different tools you can use to conduct a requirements review, depending on the size and complexity of your project:
- Checklists: A checklist is a simple way to ensure that all stakeholders have an opportunity to provide input. It can be used for small projects with only a few stakeholders, or as part of a larger process for larger projects.
- Issue Tracking System: An issue tracking system is a tool that allows you to track and manage all of the issues that are raised during the review process. This is especially useful for large projects with many stakeholders.
- Meeting Minutes: Meeting minutes are a way to document the decisions that are made during the review process. This helps keep all stakeholders on the same page, and for reference later on.
Process for Conducting a Requirements Review
There are four steps in conducting a requirements review:
- Prepare for the Review: This includes creating a list of all stakeholders, deciding who will moderate the meeting, and creating an agenda.
- Conduct the Review: This is where you actually go through the requirements document page-by-page, line-by-line. Each stakeholder should have an opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback.
- Document the Results: After the meeting, it is important to document any issues that were raised and how they will be addressed.
- Follow Up: Make sure that all stakeholders understand their roles and responsibilities, and that any issues that were raised have been resolved.
Challenges during Requirements Review
There are a few challenges that you may encounter during a requirements review:
- Agreement on the Requirements: All stakeholders must agree on the requirements before moving forward with the project. Otherwise, there may be scope creep or other issues down the road.
- Long Requirements Documents: If the requirements document is very long, it may be difficult to get through during the review. In this case, it may be helpful to break the document down into smaller sections.
- Team’s Geographical Location: If the stakeholders are not in the same geographical location, it may be difficult to coordinate a meeting. In this case, it may be helpful to use video conferencing or other remote collaboration tools.
- Stakeholders Who Are Not Invested: If stakeholders are not invested in the project, they may not be willing to give their time and energy to the review process.
- Lack of Understanding: If stakeholders do not understand the requirements document, they may not be able to provide useful feedback.
Visure Requirements ALM Platform
If you’re looking for a requirements management tool to help with your requirements review process, Visure Requirements is the perfect solution. With Visure Requirements, you can manage all of your requirements in one place, and track and trace all changes. You can also use Visure Requirements to generate reports and export your data to other tools.
With Visure’s Commenting feature, you can now involve all stakeholders and team members in every discussion before applying any changes to projects. This results in higher quality decisions, increased collaboration, and enhanced productivity across the organization regarding any sort of requirement changes.
Also, With Visure, you can create baselines at any point in time. Baselines can be created for specific and determined requirements, a set of attributes, specifications, and entire documents or projects. Once something is baselined, you can access the baseline from any of the different Visure tools, these include Visure’s Contributor, Clients Dashboard, and Authoring.
Conclusion:
Requirements Review is a process where all stakeholders involved in a project meeting agree on the requirements of the system or product. The purpose of this meeting is to ensure that everyone has a common understanding of what needs to be built and that any outstanding questions or concerns are addressed. This process can be challenging, but with the help of a good requirements management tool, it can be much more efficient and effective. Visure Requirements ALM Platform is one such tool that can help you manage your requirements review process effectively. Request a free 30-day trial today to see how it can benefit your business.
