Getting Your Software Requirements Right

When selecting software, getting the requirements right is absolutely key to the success of the project. They are effectively the foundations for all that you to want to achieve.

If you get them wrong you will either end up with something that doesn’t meet the requirements and you have to start again, or it will add significant delay and cost to the project. 

So here are some principles for getting the requirements right:

1. If it is not written down it has never been said. It doesn’t matter if you talked about what your wanted at length, what matters is what was written down. And it is all that matters if when  the solution is delivered you discover that a key piece of functionality is missing
2. You don’t know what you don’t know. Get the prospective supplier to demo what is available in their system 
3. Do not design your system around exceptions, particularly if doing so requires customisation. Consider how the process might be catered for outside the system. Do you really need to allow for snow in summer?
4. Do not determine your requirements in silos. Consider the end to end process and make sure that you involve everyone that needs to be involved.
5. Customisation should be a last resort when buying an ‘off the shelf’ system. Question why your organisation is so different to anyone else.
6. Do not create a replica of your existing system, remember that there is a reason why you wanted to replace it. 
7. Big is not beautiful, when documenting your requirements. A 700 page requirements specification is not something to be proud of. Break it down into bite sized chunks so that it can be understood and signed off.
8. Take into account corporate strategy. Don’t just design a system for you immediate needs. Does your company plan to expand into other countries? What other systems are being replaced? What will happen if another company is acquired?
9. Something will get overlooked, hopefully it will be minor but you need a process to manage change so that you can make an informed decision in terms of impact to the business, as well as impact to the project including the budget.