Requirements Gathering Critical To Success

Well, I'm back from a wonderful vacation in the Bahamas only to return to torrential downpours in Philadelphia. But I digress.

A project that ends well must begin well. So says an insightful article in Computerworld on the importance of effective requirements analysis.

Some key points raised in the article:

• Ask. Then ask again (think Peter Senge's "five why's" where you ask why five times until you get to the root of the problem).
• Interview all levels of staff and management to get different perspectives
• Interview them via multiple vehicles to get different types of answers (i.e. surveys, one-on-one interviews, and facilitated workshops).
• Do user walkthroughs to uncover the real and/or unspoken needs (or as Toyota's slogan goes, "Go and see for yourself")

Of course, I'm also reminded of Henry Ford's statement, "If I asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse."

Here's the article...

What Do Users Want?