FAQ 4.05 Do customers ever change their requirements?

Ha, ha, ha! The only customers who don't change their requirements are dead customers. In all of recorded history, no customer has ever changed his/her mind less than twice (and the poor customer who only made two sets of changes was hit by a meteorite on the way to sending in the third set of changes). While it is true that some requirement changes can be avoided with foresight, it is also true that most requirement changes occur for perfectly valid reasons. Between the beginning of a project and the first release, requirements change due to changing market conditions, changing business objectives, competitive pressure, and changing technology. In the longer term (after the first release), requirements change for all the same reasons.

The message here is that changing requirements are a fact of life and the wise team plans for them rather than complaining about them.