Conventional Requirements Model Flaw Misses REAL Business Requirements
by Robin F. Goldsmith, JD
A fundamental flaw in the widely-held conventional model of requirements creates much of creep and other requirements difficulties. This flaw involves misunderstanding of the nature and role of REAL business requirements. The term “REAL” relates to requirements in two ways. The first way is widely recognizable and is represented in lower-case. People think they know what the requirements are and then learn differently and must revise their requirements definition. Thus, the “real” requirements are what one ends up with, as opposed to what one may have thought initially.
The second use of “REAL” warrants distinguishing with upper case because it represents breakthrough awareness that REAL requirements are business requirements, which are in business terms and are what must be delivered to provide value.
| Attachment | Size |
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| Conventional Requirements Model Flaw Misses REAL Business Requirements.pdf | 158.75 KB |
Example just gets better
Hi Kevin,
Thanks for the historical update. I think the definition of an urban legend is that it _is_ more interesting than the reality.
The key point of the example is that the astronauts did not require a pen or a pencil; even though many people would say the requirement was a pen or pencil. That's a product requirement, which is high-level design of a presumed way how to meet the REAL, business requirement whats. As you mention, a traditional wooden pencil meets the product requirement (as described by Dick Bender) but fails to provide needed value because it doesn't meet the REAL, business requirements, which include being able to write in zero gravity over the duration of the space flight without creating debris (perhaps this is my chance to use the term "flotsam" too, which alliterates nicely with "floating").