Wow! What a lively bunch! Well I promised I would share my secrets about how I validate my requirements.

Let's start at the beginning, with the requirements life cycle. The basic stages in the requirements life cycle are: Gathering/Elicitation, Analysis, Specification and Validation.

Validation really starts with elicitation, and is embedded within each of these stages. It looks different at each of the stages because you are validating the components. The most important tehcniques you can use to validate are mapping your requirements back to the business objectives, scope, the project charter, decision tabling, Logic Modeling, Ambiguity tracking and facilitated workshops. Yes, traceability is a critical component of this process. It is a tool to ensure follow through.

It is essential, that you keep an open mind, and practice effective listening.

As Robin put in response to another article keep your ego in check. After interviewing approximately 300 business analysts, monitoring their performance, she was absolutely right about how our egos prevent us from listening and accepting that it really is our requirements that need fixing, not the developer, architect or tester perception.

I saw a lot of this in critiquing other requirements and managing their ongoing performance. In mediation, you realize that ego and attitude closes down communication because it prevents us from hearing what is being said.

If you think this won't impact your requirements, go back to the article on the Seinfeld Approach to Requirements.

Ok, so I shared the tools I use to to validate my requirements, but I haven't told you how I use them and in what order I use them. That's a trade secret!