When you read the title, you probably thought of Requirements Management Tools like DOORS or RequisitePro.  This type of software is important and makes things easier, but we tend to focus too much on the tools and forget about the process they support.

Let me tell you a story that happened to one of my colleagues to illustrate where we should focus when managing requirements:

We were about to finish the production of one of our systems, so we had to order the boxes we use for the shipping.  It was the first time my colleague did that, so he carefully checked similar boxes to make a proper order.  He realized that the difference between the inside and outside dimensions was very big because of all the padding and protections.  So he measured that difference to take it into account so that our system fit perfectly.

Therefore, final dimensions = system dimensions + padding + protections.  Makes sense, eh?

After checking it once again, he sent the measurements to the guys who manufactured the boxes and to the company which had to do the shipping.

And everything was fine… until we received the box.  It was HUGE!!  But something had to be wrong, because the dimensions had been checked.  A phone call to the box manufacturer explained it:  he always works with internal dimensions, not external.  On the contrary, the transportation company works with external dimensions.  And, to be honest, it makes sense:  you specify the size of the item you want to put in the box (internal dimensions) and the size of box you want to transport (external dimensions).  So the problem was obvious.  The requirements of our box were incorrect.  Well, they were incomplete, as we never specified that the dimensions we provided were external.

Box Requirements

So if the outcome of a “project” as simple as box can go wrong because of incorrect management of the requirements, imagine what can happen in a system with hundreds or thousands of requirements.

And it is clear that no tool could have helped in this situation.  Tools are very useful for checking missing traceabilities, control the changes, allow only certain users to modify the requirements and many other things.  But in the end it all depends on the analysis we do of those requirements.  And if we don’t do a good job (not get the right people, do the analysis in a rush, not ask the customer if there is a doubt…) then the consequences can be disastrous.