Chapter 16. The Vision Document

Key Points

• Every software project will benefit from having a Vision document.

• The Vision document describes the application in general terms, including descriptions of the target market, the system users, and the application features.

• The Vision document defines, at a high level of abstraction, both the problem and the solution.

• The Delta Vision document focuses on what has changed.

This chapter focuses on the Vision document, a key component of an effective requirements process. As our colleague Philippe Kruchten, one of the fathers of the Rational Unified Process, once told us, "If, instead of a fully robust process, I were permitted to develop only one document, model, or other artifact in support of a software project, a short, well-crafted Vision document would be my choice."

Why is that? Because the Vision document, even if short or perhaps incomplete, helps assure that everyone working on the project is working toward a single objective. The team has common goals and a common playbook ”a shared gestalt, if you will. Otherwise, the team will work toward unknown or conflicting objectives, and chaos will likely result.

Over the years , we have found this document to be of utmost importance, and it has evolved to become a standard best practice for use when defining a software application.