Requirements Management

The first part of this chapter, which deals with the gathering of information, can be considered part of the management of requirements. Indeed, no matter at what stage a requirement is introduced, it should be managed. In practice, the more the software world is developed, the more it is accepted that the way in which requirements are managed is a critical factor of software success. Efforts made in this direction come to improve software quality at least from the customer s perspective.

The management of requirements can be discussed from a technical point of view (that is, what tools can be used for this purpose and how to use them) and from the human perspective (that is, what needs this activity serves in the process of software development). Naturally, in what follows , the emphasis is placed on the human aspect and not on technical features of any particular tool.

Tasks  

1. What are the targets of requirements management tools?

2. What should characterize these tools?

3. How might such tools influence the process of software development?

4. Assume that you are going to establish a company that offers a tool for requirements management. Identify your customers. What would you offer them?

5. In your opinion, can requirements be managed by traditional project management tools? If yes, how? If not, in what sense does a software project differ from other kinds of projects, and, consequently, requires different tools for managing its requirements?

In what follows we present a summary of basic features that computational tools for requirements management should have, emphasizing their importance from the human perspective. We do not claim that the list of features is complete. However, it contains main features that support this complex process. The list is composed based on the analysis of several tools for requirements management (listed at the end of this chapter).