RSSIf you read our recent blog, Redefining Requirements Management, you understand the importance of clear documentation and managing requirements effectively. If you’re a small team in the same office you probably can get along fine with a whiteboard or face-to-face meeting to manage requirements.
But as projects grow in complexity and your team grows in size and geography, so do all the challenges and overhead of keeping everyone in sync. If this is the case, requirements management (RM) software could add value by helping to keep track of changes, manage trace relationships, update documents, and communicate with everyone on the team.
Here are four common tipping points where specialized RM software makes sense:
1 – Team Size: More than 25 people involved. As your team continues to grow, the need for collaboration and keeping you entire team in sync increases. If you can get connected and stay connected throughout the entire development process, you can eliminate the vast majority of issues.
2 – Location: If 10%+ of your team is virtual. The more geographically distributed the clients, stakeholders and project teams are, the greater the need for collaboration and consensus. RM software can keep your team connected.
3 – Complexity: If you have more than 100 requirements. The more complex the project, the greater the need for RM software. Research has shown that project teams can eliminate 50-80% of project defects by effectively managing requirements.
4 – Change: If 10%+ of your time is spent managing change. As if defining requirements was not challenging enough, they also constantly change and evolve. More than ever, having the real time traceability and change management that RM software provides is important.
If by reading this you realize that RM software might mean the success of your project – you are not alone. According to the 2011 State of Requirements Management Report, “60% plan to buy requirements collaboration and management software.” If you are looking for more keys to success, be sure to check out our 7 Essential Tips to Ensure Success with RM whitepaper.
