How to get software requirements

 

The acquisition of software requirements is the key link of software requirements development.

 

There are several ways to obtain software requirements in my opinion:

 

1. interviews and questionnaires;
2. group discussion;
3. Scenario concatenation;
4. Participate in and observe business processes;
5. Description documents of existing products and competitors;
6. market information

 

Interviews and Questionnaires:

 

Interviews are one of the most useful ways to obtain software requirements. What to prepare for the interview:

 

1. interview object
2. interview questions

 

Interview Objects: Stakeholders related to the system and are representative to ensure that each role is covered. How to get stakeholders:

 

1. Who pays for the system, buys the system?
2. Who uses the system:
3. Who will be affected by the outcome of the system and who will oversee the system?
4. Who will maintain the system?

 

Interview questions: It is necessary to ensure that it has nothing to do with the background and ensure the impartiality of the information obtained. Design of the problem:

 

1. Determine the background of the interviewee: name, age, position in the department, current scope of work
2. What problems are you currently encountering, and how will these problems affect your work and life?
3. The background of the object environment: a. Computer level, b. Is there a same system in use at present, c. What problems do you encounter when using the system, d. How do you deal with the work at present? e. What are the requirements for training, etc.?
4. Repeating the question to obtain the interviewer's approval of the question;
5. Analyze the problem: What is the cause of the problem? Under what circumstances does this problem occur? What is the current solution and how effective is it? What solutions are customers looking for?
6. Feasibility analysis of solutions;
7. Non-functional requirements: performance? Stability requirements;
8. Maintenance, is there a dedicated maintenance team?
9. If you agree with the current interview results, you can continue to contact if you have any questions later.
10. Summarize the three issues with the highest current priority;
11. Questionnaires cannot replace the role of interviews in the stage of demand acquisition. The questions and answers of the questionnaires are instructive to some extent, which will affect the results to some extent.

 

group discussion:

A group discussion is a meeting where people related to a project issue come together to discuss. Advantages: It is easy to obtain the approval of the plan internally, which is conducive to the development of the project; at the discussion meeting, each relevant person can express their own opinions, which ensures the comprehensiveness of the information obtained. Disadvantage: not easy to grasp.

 

Notes for group discussions:

1. It is necessary to determine the topic and scope; participants;

2. Send the relevant information to the participants in advance, so that the participants can understand the overall background of the meeting before the meeting, which is conducive to the smooth development of the meeting;

3. Determine the meeting room and meeting time (the length of the meeting needs to be controlled), and do a good job in logistical support;

4. Choosing a good host can grasp the direction and progress of the meeting and adjust the atmosphere of the meeting;

5. Ensure that everyone has 5-10 minutes of speaking time, and no interruption is allowed, but it is not allowed to exceed the limited speaking time;

6. After the meeting, send the meeting minutes to the participants to obtain approval of the results.

 

Scenario

 

Due to the abstract nature of software products, most stakeholders do not have a clear product outline in their minds, which affects their understanding of the product. Based on this, consider writing a clear and complete scenario description document.

1. Use PPT and pictures to describe the scene;

2. Use the prototype method (this method is recommended)

 

Participate in and observe business processes

 

The business process described by the stakeholders may miss important information for some reasons, and the requirements analysts can apply to participate in their specific work, observe and experience the business operation process. When the demand analyst observes the business operation process, he can ask questions and record in detail according to the actual situation, record the business operator's operation process and the difficulties encountered in the operation process, and can obtain real materials and understand the entire business.

 

Existing product and competitor documentation

 

Reading the existing product documentation is helpful to understand the current system situation, from which you can also understand the business process, and have a deeper understanding of the system problems reported by operators.