Software Process Improvement Network
(A-SPIN)
Presentation: Rapid Requirements Gathering,
by Scott Killen, CyberTrader Inc.
To view Scot Killen's August SPIN presentation on "Rapid Requirements Gathering" (Acrobat 4.0 document), please click here.
Presentation Overview:
Gathering requirements is one of the first steps of project initialization. Success or failure at this task usually sets the tone for the remainder of the project. Mistakes at the requirements collection phase can, at best, delay a product's introduction and, at worst, result in catastrophic product failures. Yet, gathering requirements is typically a black art of meetings, rounds of interviews, discussions with customers, and a large dose of gut instinct. Isn't there a better way?
Rapid Requirements Gathering (RRG) offers an alternative to traditional approaches. An RRG exercise is a specific type of phased meeting that is designed to elucidate requirements from a collection of stakeholders. It takes the experiential base of all of its participants and, in a facilitated process, produces a rank ordered set of requirements that can guide product development.
As a meeting, RRG offers several advantages to traditional information gathering meetings:
- It is highly scaleable. (It works the same whether there are eight or eighty participants)
- It is massively parallel. (People are not bored by listening to streaming commentary)
- It is fun. (Laugh, joke, throw things around. It's ok.)
- Little preparation is required. (Participants need not prepare at all. Facilitator must choose and invite the stakeholders)
- It has built-in anonymity
- It very quickly returns high quality results.
About the Speaker:
Mr. Killen is the Director of Technical Project Management at CyberTrader Inc. and President of the Austin Software Process Improvement Network for the 2002-2003 year.
He is an experienced manager with over eight years of full Software Development Lifecycle project management experience. Prior to his entry into the Project Management arena, he spent thirteen years architecting automated software regression test systems, seven years designing financial planning software and also developed one of the first real-time, multiplayer, computer games offered over a major network in the country.
Mr. Killen has a BS in Physics from the University of Texas, is Certified by the Project Management Institute as a Project Management Professional and is recognized by the American Society for Quality as a Certified Software Quality Engineer. As a Storyteller, he has been admitted to the Texas Commission for the Arts, Touring Artists program.