One of the vital processes involved in life cycle of a product development is requirements gathering. However, gathering of requirements becomes difficult where new requirements are coming in. Also, it becomes to track requirements in an agile environment- It might happen that you might miss out on certain requirements during the execution stage. Now the question is how the requirements can be effectively gathered in such an environment. In this article, we will discuss about the challenges of gathering requirements in an agile environment and use of requirement management tool and other tools in requirement management.
Challenges in gathering requirements in an agile environment:
One of the major steps involved in a project is gathering the requirements. Once you are able to make a list of the requirements, it becomes easier to plan the project as well as create an estimate of budget for the same in order to enhance customer satisfaction. However, the challenges that take place in gathering requirements in an agile environment are listed as follows:
- Unclear success benchmarks– The stakeholders have an idea about the problem areas or opportunities but the main problem is that they are not aware of what they should do about it and how. The best way to sort out this issue is to break the project into smaller parts so that each of the areas can become clear.
- Changing minds– It often happens that stakeholders change their minds while a project is on. Flexibility is important to address this issue and it should allow the changes to take place. Change management can be done through allocating budgets, estimating and prioritizing. Communication of changes should take place before making the necessary changes.
- Clients might not speak up– Successful gathering of requirements can take place only when the clients are active. But in majority of the cases, the clients do not want to speak up and this creates a problem in building confidence and trust. It is very important to create a comfort zone with the clients so that they can speak up. Careful listening to their problems is the key to success.
- Conflicting priorities– When varied groups are involved in system development, there are high chances of conflicting ideas and priorities. It is important to sort out this issue or else individual agendas gain priority over success of the organization as a whole. The best solution is that the stakeholders and the project managers should sit together and resolve their conflicts.