RSSWhen working in agile, do you need requirements? The short answer: yes.
Whenever you’re starting a new project, you need to be able to identify the business requirements. Like Scott Ambler says in Agile Modeling, people are going to ask you the “fundamental business questions.” How long is it going to take? What’s the vision? What’s the cost? For funding and business support, you need to find answers to these (and other) questions.
A product or project manager needs to have a clear vision of what’s about to be built. If the can’t PM gain consensus on what that strong vision should be, he or she can’t lead the team. Without stakeholder and team collaboration, the development process becomes unnecessarily difficult — and the chance for project failure increases significantly. Well written requirements, an honest and open dialogue and a collaborative review process help teams build better products.
Writing requirements doesn’t pull you away from an agile process. Not all requirements may be determined upfront, but instead, requirements can be collected and modified in flexible development. Laurie Williams from Software Engineering explains, “To do this, there must be frequent contact with the customer to determine what the customer really wants.” Collaboration is key in agile methodology.
As agile practicers know, the development process isn’t infallible. It requires revisions along the way. But requirements aren’t a hindrance — they help you understand what stakeholders want and develop a vision to guide you through smoother development cycles.
