C13 Delivering the Requirements

Question 1

There are a few factors to consider when deciding how to deliver requirements. What are they?

Answer 1

Context - the nature of the organisation and project that will provide the basis for deciding how the solution will be delivered.

Lifecycle - the process adopted for delivering and implementing the solution.

Approach - Roles - the key roles to be filled during the project.

Roles - the key roles to be filled during a project.

Deliverables - the products to be delivered by the project team.

Techniques - the management and development techniques used to plan, analyse and document the project work.

Question 2

What are the key factors to consider when determining the context of an organisation?

Answer 2

• The culture and underlying philosophy of the organisation,
• The business context for the proposed change (benefits expected),
• Any constraints that impinge upon the project (timescale, budget, resources),
• The prioritised needs of the business,
• The drivers for the project (Pestel?).

Question 3

Give examples of delivery lifecycle models used to deliver requirements? (name them)

Answer 3

The business change lifecycle (ADDIR) - the business case is central here,

Systems development lifecycles:

• The waterfall lifecycle (where each stage is signed off and reviewed before the next stage starts) – Feasibility study -> Analysis -> Design -> Development -> Testing -> Implementation.
• The V model - a variant the waterfall approach. 0) Analyse Business needs -> Business case -> Review benefits, 1) Define requirements -> acceptance criteria -> Ensure User Acceptance, 2) Design solution -> system test criteria -> Test solution, 3) Develop solution -> Unit test criteria -> Test models.
• Incremental lifecycle, where pressing requirements can be developed in increment 1 and the rest follow in increment 2.
• Iterative systems development e.g. Agile approaches include SCRUM / DSDM / SPIRAL METHOD.

Generic agile approach!!! - identify business needs -> identify options and feasibility -> define and agree business requirements -> elaborate solution requirements -> engineer solution -> deploy solution -> evaluate solution.

Question 4

The iterative development approach is founded upon some fundamental generic principles. What are these principles?

Answer 4

Evolutionary requirements, 
Empowerment and collaboration, 
Fitness for purpose, 
Testing all the time, 
Incremental delivery and timeboxing, 
Prioritisation.

Question 5

Why are agile delivery lifecycle methods becoming more popular?

Answer 5

• Because of the need for organisations to respond quickly to fast-changing business situations,
• The difficultly of knowing what is wanted at the early stages of a project,
• The importance of flexibility when deciding how requirements will be delivered.

Question 6

What are sprints in relation to the SCRUM delivery lifecycle model?

Answer 6

In a SCRUM project, the development work proceeds in a series of ‘sprints’ which are time boxed periods of effort, typically from a week to a month in duration.

Question 7

Why is it important to prioritise requirements and what is the MoSCoW approach to requirements prioritisation?

Answer 7

When managing a project, it is important to develop a clear understanding of the customers’ requirements and their priority. Many projects start with the barest headline list of requirements, only to find later the customers’ needs have not been fully understood.

MoSCoW stands for must, should, could and would:

M - Must have this requirement to meet the business needs
S - Should have this requirement if possible, but project success does not rely on it
C - Could have this requirement if it does not affect anything else on the project
W - Would like to have this requirement later, but delivery won’t be this time

Question 8

Why might we use COTS software vs Customised software packages?

Answer 8

Commercial off the shelf software are the packaged software meant for the large audience with fundamentally similar requirements. For example, Adobe Photoshop is designed for the mass users as a complete solution that fits every user requirement. However, it does not serve any specific entry like a Custom software does. Customized Software involves the commissioning, development, and release of the software designed for a specific user or a business.

Question 9

What are the typical roles in a project team?

Answer 9

PROJECT MANAGER
BUSINESS ANALYST
DEVELOPER
TESTER

Question 10

The roles that are required to deliver a solution will depend upon three factors, what are they?

Answer 10

1) The context of the organisation and project,
2) the nature of the lifecycle selected,
3) the approach adopted.

Question 11

The techniques to be adopted during the development of the solution can vary considerably from project to project… explain some typical situations.

Answer 11

• The use of the waterfall-based lifecycle will require the use of formal documentation that has been reviewed and ‘signed off’. This necessitates the use of formal and rigorous techniques for documenting and modelling requirements.
• Where an agile approach has been adopted for a project, this will determine the techniques to be used, Prototyping / Wireframing / Scenarios and User Stories are useful here.
• Organisations may have defined templates for requirements documentation that include modelling business processes and IT requirements.
• Many organisations have adopted support tools that impose both a development standard and modelling standards to be used.