Requirements are the documented and agreed needs of the project stakeholders. The success of a project is measured by how well it is seen to meet its requirements, so it is vital that they are clearly understood, traceable and tested.
You can check the quality of your project requirements, by using this checklist along with the Requirements Management Plan, Requirements Gathering Template and Traceability Matrix available at stakeholdermap.com. Jump straight to the download
Contents of the checklist
- Does the project have a documented Requirements Management Plan?
- Does the project have a Requirements Traceability Matrix to manage and trace requirements?
- Have the requirements for the project been entered into the matrix?
- Have those responsible for managing requirements been trained on the matrix and procedures?
- Have both product and project requirements been defined?
- Have both functional and technical requirements been defined?
- Have performance requirements been defined and documented?
- Have requirement dependencies been identified and documented?
- Have assumptions and constraints been communicated to the project stakeholders?
- Have measures to determine the status of requirements been agreed upon and documented?
- Are requirements documented so that everyone affected by them understands them?
- Is each requirement testable?
- Are adequate processes and metrics in place to help ensure successful requirement delivery?
- Have all requirements been traced back to their source?
- Have all requirements been traced to design, development, testing, and implementation?
- Do any requirements conflict with or duplicate other requirements?
- Have you identified all hardware, software, and communication interfaces?
- Have the requirements been prioritized and categorized, such as "must-have,” "nice-to-have,” and "future consideration"?
- Has a formal requirements review been conducted, including critical stakeholders?
- Have potential changes to requirements been considered, and is there a process for managing such changes?
- Has each requirement's estimated effort and time been clearly defined and agreed upon?
- Have you developed a procedure for dealing with potential gaps in requirements?
- Have you identified any risks associated with each requirement, and do you have a mitigation plan for these risks?
- Is there a contingency plan if a critical requirement cannot be fulfilled?
- Are there defined communication lines and regular meetings to review the status of the project requirements and discuss any potential issues or changes?