1.2.4: Why Requirements?

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Из курса от партнера University of Alberta

Introduction to Software Product Management

3397 оценки

University of Alberta

Introduction to Software Product Management

3397 оценки

Курс 1 из 6 — Specialization Software Product Management

This course highlights the importance and role of software product management. It also provides an overview of the specialization, as well as its goals, structure, and expectations. The course explains the value of process, requirements, planning, and monitoring in producing better software.

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Module 2: Foundations of Software Product Management

Welcome to the second half of Introduction to Software Product Management. In this module you will learn the philosophy, core values, and principles of Agile software development. The Agile philosophy has reshaped modern software development. Challenge yourself by thinking about how you would deliver a successful software product within the “triangle” of (a) meeting client needs, (b) delivering on schedule, and (c) staying within budget. This module will also preview software product management in four foundational areas: establishing a process, defining requirements, planning the work, and monitoring development. You’ll see the important role they play in producing better software.

1.2.4: Why Requirements?5:10

Познакомьтесь с преподавателями

Kenny Wong
Associate Professor
Computing Science, Faculty of Science

[MUSIC]

Hi, I'm Bradley Poulette.

I have worked as a project manager on many software projects in the past and

have studied a broad range of techniques relating to the field

here at the University of Alberta.

I am incredibly passionate about software product management and

I'm excited to share that passion with you.

In this lesson, I'm going to cover why requirements are important

when working on software projects.

I'm going to start by outlining some of the main reasons why we need requirements,

as well as some examples of what happens when you lose focus on those requirements.

So let's begin with why we need requirements.

Requirements are a set of specific descriptions of your client's needs.

I'll cover this in more detail in the Client Needs and

Software Requirements course, but for now, the client is the person or

group of people who want the software product built in the first place.

Requirements combined with processes

are the backbone of any successful software project.

So what makes them so important?

Here's an example of a list of requirements

for a great social network app.

The user could:

store user profiles on their data,

send messages to other users,

view other user's profiles,

create status updates,

and view other user's status updates.

This is a pretty simple example, but you get the picture.

Requirements generate the features of a software product.

So what happens if you get a seemingly simple request

like users can talk to each other through the app?

How does that translate into a requirement?

Are users supposed to be able to send voice notes to one another?

Text messages?

Brain waves?

What about that word, can?

Are users only able to talk to one another at certain times of the day?

This sort of ambiguity can lead to an enormous amount of confusion for

developers, especially if most of the user requirements are similarly unclear.

You'll need to get more details in order to really nail things down.

Avoiding confusion is incredibly important in software development.

This starts by knowing how to properly elicit and express requirements.

By spending the time to refine requirements,

you can also detect potential errors in your product before it's even built.

By clarifying ideas, development becomes focused and efficient.

Here's an example.

One of your developers has begun developing the social network app and

has come across this requirement.

Users must be able to send messages as a guest.

The developer might take this requirement and design a system in which users have

the ability to either log in to their own account or use a guest account.

A single guest account fulfills the requirement, but will there by unintended

consequences when many different users have access to one guest account?

As a result of the developer's understanding of the requirement,

this guest account became one big account

in which anyone could message anyone else and see the conversation.

This unfortunate design error is a result of a poorly defined requirement.

Imagine the amount of time and

effort that could have gone into building an ill thought-out feature.

It would have been expensive to implement and even more expensive to fix.

Let's see if you can pull out the key reasons why requirements are important

in software development.

In this quiz, please select the options

that you think best fit the reason why you want requirements.

You're working with your client to elicit a set of requirements for

a software product.

The client produces a napkin,

on which he has sketched out an app with a few outlined features.

He says, this is the product we want.

If you accept this document as your final set of requirements,

rather than refining them with your client,

which of the following are potential risks to your project?

A. Product implementation errors may not show up until software coding is finished and tested.

B. The product may not satisfy the end users

C. The client has too much input over the look and feel of the product.

And/or D. The people involved are not collaborative, and morale drops.

The answers are A, B, and D.

Your client having too much input

over the look and feel of your product isn't a product risk.

The more involvement your client has in the process,

the more smoothly things tend to go.

That's not to say that you should allow your client

to control development entirely.

You should collaborate to create the best product possible.

Collaboration also helps to increase morale,

and thing tend to get done faster with a happy team.

To learn more about how to ensure you get the most out of your requirements,

I encourage you to take the Client Needs and

Software Requirements course, part of the specialization here on Coursera.

In the next lesson, Morgan is going to talk about the reason

why you want to spend time planning your projects.

Thanks for watching.

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