BA Rocks!

Scope creep is annoying, but what is more annoying is doing all the business process maps and documentation in visio and word. The changes and flow-on affects of these changes then need to be manually changed in the documents.

I am currently looking at some software tools to support my current project so that I can have enhanced traceability and be able to quickly work out what requirements are impacted when a certain element changes (eg cannot now be delivered in this current release).

I am working in an agile environment where there is rapid change and the business needs are evolving and this needs to be manged. Requirements are never really complete until the project is finished as the needs of the business will inevitably change over the life of the project development. Telling the business “it is not in the spec” doesn’t solve the issue that they need this change.

In this type of environment it important to know the “ripple” effects of a change to a particular requirement (eg architecture, design, code, tests and deployment). What a first may be a minor change, can indeed be very costly.

Requirements management done well can help your project to deliver the benefits the business is looking for, without you having to get frustrated by the process. I am hoping that the tools we evaluate may help to support our requirements process and help to ensure we can adapt to the rapid changes required in this agile environment.