Intellect Requirements Definition

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Requirements Definition

Requirements Definition

IT industry research firm, The Standish Group, noted the three most commonly cited factors that cause software development projects to be "challenged":

	Lack of user input:	13% of all projects
	Incomplete requirements and specifications:	12% of all projects
	Changing requirements and specifications:	12% of all projects

While a variety of other reasons were cited, that include unrealistic schedule or time frame (4%), inadequate staffing or resources (6%), inadequate technology skills (7%), and other reasons, it is clear that at least one third of development projects run into trouble for reasons that are directly tied to requirements gathering, documentation and management.

These results were also mirrored in a study by the European Software Process Improvement Training Initiative (ESPITI), which noted that the two largest problems, appearing in half the responses of over 3,000 software professionals, were requirements specifications and managing customer requirements.

Compounding this problem is the cost to fix errors in requirements. There is a much larger cost of fixing these errors during testing and maintenance phases of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), as opposed to finding errors in the requirements stage itself.

What does all this mean? To develop software that meets the needs of customers, that truly addresses the needs of the users that are intended to benefit from using the application, requirements definition is arguably the most critical piece of the SDLC.

INTELLECT has expertise in supplying business and/or process analysts that can drive the requirements definition process. We have supported clients developing internal corporate systems, as well as commercial software for use by external customers on a large scale. Our understanding of business process analysis and product management helps us deliver domain experts who bring the required business, industry, and project knowledge to drive more successful projects.

INTELLECT understands that perhaps the most critical piece of the software development process is gathering valid and testable requirements.

Entrust INTELLECT to provide these critical resources to your team.

"The most difficult part of requirements gathering is not the act of recording what the user wants, it is the exploratory development activity of helping users figure out what they want."
	Steve McConnell, software entrepreneur and technology author