8.2 Requirements Management Problems

This section introduces the specific problems that make the management of requirements more difficult than some other management activities. The first problem is that very few people have had significant experience of managing requirements. This is mainly because very few organizations have a defined requirements management process that is followed across the organization. As a result, people faced with a project that must address requirements, have very little experience to draw on. This makes estimation very difficult, because one of the main ingredients of the production of good estimates is extensive relevant experience. Hence the starting point is not good and one is reminded of the joke in which one person asks another the way to a specific place and receives the reply "I wouldn't start from here"!

A corollary of this problem is more fundamental. If people have had little experience of requirements management, they may not even know what activities are necessary to develop requirements. Earlier chapters have addressed this issue and give direct guidance on the sorts of activities necessary to develop requirements of various types and in several contexts.

The second problem is that many people do not properly distinguish between user or stakeholder requirements and system requirements. Further, they often do not distinguish between system requirements and design specifications. In other words, they go straight for a solution rather than defining a solution-independent set of requirements. Again, this topic has been dealt with in preceding chapters.

The third main problem is...