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How is requirements closure going for your new
products? Reaching consensus among all parties and levels of product
requirements can be a challenging and lengthy process, often leaving
your project either delayed in getting started or impacted by rework. The
traditional
path
of
using
a
serial
waterfall
approach
for
the
developing
the full suite of requirements is lined with obstacles, some
visible and some not so visible . There is a better way!
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Requirements Gridlock
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A "Wait" Problem
- Waiting for completion of another
abstraction level
- Waiting for a decision
- Waiting for someone else
- Waiting for a validation
- Waiting for the customer
- Waiting to sync with another requirements
level
- Rework due to not waiting for closure
A "Focus" Solution
- Stop waiting - enable focus on closure of
all levels of requirements
- Definitive singular ownership of the
entire process
- Prepared for decisions
- Synchronized suite of requirements
- Structured, informed and agile decisions
- The Requirements Workshop
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The Problem
When you consider requirements closure what comes to mind and how is it
going? Those that are further downstream in the serial requirements
flow generally have the most problems with the process, simply because
they are forced to drive issues back up the chain for resolution. This
brings me to the two primary issues with the requirements processes of
today: synchronization and gridlock.
1) Requirements Synchronization
ALL
the various levels of requirements are synchronized in a waterfall
fashion, forcing those at the bottom of the chain with a daunting task
of fitting in to the big picture. The business focus is generally on
only the top level.
2) Requirements Gridlock
Requirements gridlock is a largely invisible issue that quietly saps
productivity. In many cases those responsible for a specific level of
requirements are quietly in a holding pattern for one of two primary
reasons:
- They are
waiting for a
higher (or lower) level of requirements to be completed enough so they
can complete theirs.
- They are
waiting for a
decision to be made.
There is a lot of waiting going on, quietly
drawing off valuable engineering resources and stealing early revenue
opportunity.
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The root issue is a lack of focus on the full
suite of requirements and the dependencies between them. Without this
proper focus, your teams are silently wasting time waiting
and reworking, while early revenue opportunity fades. In
most organizations the process of reaching agreed closure may drag on
for months, sometimes even through the first tapeout. Solving the
requirements dilemma will require a singular point of focus.
The Solution
- A Requirements Workshop
The ideal remedy for this lack of focus is a concisely facilitated
workshop tasked with achieving broad spectrum requirements closure for
a specific project. With this objective in mind, we offer a Requirements
Closure
Workshop as a part of our product lineup. This service
brings an essential collaborative component to your team, allowing them
to quickly reach consensus on a finalized set of project requirements,
ending the gridlock and
synchronization issues.
If you have a specific project where timely and high quality
requirements closure is essential, our Requirements Closure
Workshop will be a valuable solution. The workshop provides a
focused environment where participants will be guided through a
pre-determined set of activities, leading to an agreed set of new
product requirements. It's all about facilitating a focus on the end
objective - full spectrum requirements consensus and clarity.
The types of project requirements range from the high-level
system/customer level through the specific engineering details, each
with different demands of the team. The path to closure of each
requirements type dictates vastly different approaches, activities and
content to finalize requirements. However, there is always one common
and essential ingredient for timely success - synchronization, a focal
point and collaboration in reaching agreement. Our workshop facilitates
the process that guides your team to consensus in a timely and orderly
fashion. The diagram above is a view of the process we utilize for this
results oriented workshop.
 The
roadmap
to
requirements
closure will not be successful with a cookie
cutter approach; hence preparation for each projects unique needs are
essential. Groundwork for a successful workshop is an area where we
place a great deal of emphasis. This forethought includes objectives,
people, pre-work, scope definition, sponsorship, ground rules by which
the workshop will operate and how decisions will be made.
It sounds like a lot of work, right?
Wrong! There is not really that much extra activity for the team
members beyond what normally needs to be completed. It essentially
comes down to one of two choices. The first is to continue with
confusion, gridlock, rework and missed commitments thus wasting an
undetermined amount of time and money. The second choice is focusing
early in the project to drive an agreed set of requirements via our
focused workshop approach. The first choice allows disorder to quietly
prevail while the second choice enables an orderly and predictable new
product flow.
Contact
me
via
email
or phone 480-442-6730 to discuss your specific new product requirements
needs.
Stop the Silent
Waiting - Bring Focus to Requirements Closure
Sincerely,
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Jeff Jorvig
IC NPD Execution Coach
"Providing
solutions
to
the
systemic
barriers
that
impact
new
product
revenue
objectives,
putting an end to terminal sameness."
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