Clarifying Requirements vs. Faster, Better, Cheaper

There's a thought-provoking article on Projects@Work about the need to examine tradeoffs and dive deeper into the "real" (and often unspoken) requirements, especially when faced with demands of "faster, better, cheaper."

The author, Doug Cretsinger, raises some excellent points about the misinterpretations and assumptions when given fuzzy requirements. What may seem like a straightforward request could be interpreted six ways to Sunday if not carefully evaluated.

The "Make a baby" example in particular illustrates the need to think about the implications of "faster, better, cheaper," even bringing up considerations like total cost of ownership (so much for "cheaper"!).

http://www.projectsatwork.com/content/Articles/234376.cfm