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 |
Books 24-7 is also available free, I believe
It's my understanding that both IEEE and ACM offer Books 24-7 accessibility, and I think some degree of access is free to members.
Business requirements exist for whatever type of product/system solution one decides to implement. Since many of us work with information systems, they are a common context; but there are business requirements for manufactured products and for personal business.
In a seminar not long ago, a participant used the Problem Pyramidâ„¢ to discover her REAL business requirements for a problem which she defined initially as "ants in her kitchen."