A lot of IT folks and or BA’s believe that if you create the requirements without the business, and then review the requirements with the business for confirmation, you can save a lot of time.
After all, creating requirements collaboratively just takes too long, and the business doesn't know what they want, anyways. In addition, we (IT or BA) know the system better than the business, so it just makes sense for us to create the requirements, and then let the business say yes or no.
Let’s see this concept in practice in the “Requirements for My New Car”: a fable.
Fred needs to buy a new car. Fred talked with a coworker, named Mary, about having to buy a new car. Mary told Fred about a car sales person she knew, Alice. Mary told Fred how helpful Alice was to her when she bought her car. Mary told Fred that it was a Chevy Dealership on the other side of town
That Saturday, Fred goes to the car dealership and finds Alice. Fred tells Alice that Mary recommended her, and he needs to buy a new car.
Alice says, “Great, do you know what kind of car you want?”
Fred states, “I am not sure. What kind of cars do you have, Alice?”
Alice asks, “Do you need the car to go to work and back?”
Fred says, “Yes, and I want it to be blue or red, and I want it to have satellite radio.”
Alice says, “Ok Fred, let me go check our inventory.”
About 30 minutes later, Alice drives up to the front of the dealership in a fancy red sports car and says to Fred, “Will this work?”
Fred smiles and says, “Yeah, but how much is it going to cost me?”
Alice says, “$35 k.”
Fred says, “I really like it, but do you have one cheaper, may be with out all the fancy stuff?”
Alice says, “I will go check.”
45 minutes later, Alice drives up with the same car but in blue and says to Fred, “How about this one?”
Fred says, “How much is that cool car?”
Alice says, “This is the base model, so it doesn't have satellite radio or other minor things like power windows etc, but it is only $28 k.”
Fred hesitates about the missing features
Alice sense she may be losing Fred and says, “We could add Satellite radio at a later time Fred”
Fred says enthusiastically, “We can that is Great, I'll take it!”
After about 3 hours at the dealership, Fred is driving home. Fred discovers that he cannot pull in the driveway, since his three sons are playing tag with squirt guns. They all run over to Fred and say, “Is that the new car Dad?”
He says proudly, “Yes, what do you guys think?”
“Its cool, can we all go for a ride and blast the satellite radio, Dad?” they all say excitedly. Then it hits Fred the car has only two seats; how is the family going to ride in this? He also realizes that his one son will be 16 next month and needs to learn how to drive. Fred’s wife comes out and asks in a frustrated tone, “Fred why did you get that car?”
So what happened? Who was at fault? Is it Fred? Maybe it is Alice. On the other hand it could be Mary.
Some would say Fred had no idea what he wanted. Therefore, it was Fred’s fault.
However, Fred did know what he wanted; he just didn't have a way to express his needs, wants, or his goals and objectives.
Therefore, Fred did nothing wrong.
Some could say it was Alice’s fault, because she did not have enough requirements to help Fred. She missed other important people that could have provided key requirements like Fred’s wife and or the kids.
However, in Alice’s defense, Alice knew customers do not want to wait a long time in dealerships. Alice knows the cars better than Fred does. Alice ask Fred some key questions and Fred gave her some additional requirements, thus Alice could help Fred decide faster than going through all those techniques of getting Fred’s requirements for his new car. Moreover, since Fred knew Mary, then Alice can assume that Fred has some of the same likes as Mary, because Mary is only good friends with people who have similar tastes as herself.
Therefore, Alice did nothing wrong.
Ok, so it’s Mary’s fault. If she had kept her nose out of Fred’s business, then none of this would have happened.
All Mary did was help Fred with some friendly advice based on what Fred said he needed. She was only being helpful, and Fred will never know that Mary will receive a free round of golf from Alice for the referral.
Therefore, Fred keeps his car, Alice keeps her commission, and Mary gets free golf. Everyone is happy, right!?
Credits for our Fable:
Mary plays the role of Business Management
Fred plays the role of Business User
Alice plays the role of BA Contractor / Tech Lead / Software Provider
Conclusion:
A lot of IT folks and or BA’s believe that if you create the requirements without the business, and then review the requirements with the business for confirmation, you can save a lot of time.
After all, creating requirements collaboratively just takes too long, and the business doesn't know what they want, anyways. In addition, we (IT or BA) know the system better than the business, so it just makes sense for us to create the requirements, and then let the business say yes or no.
Author: James Shoemaker