Software requirements gathering. Key steps and best practices for custom software development
Custom software development is a complex process that demands careful planning and execution, and the success of a project largely depends on how well the software requirements are defined.
Poor requirements gathering and management are among the top causes of project failure, according to the Project Management Institute (PMI). In fact, PMI found that nearly half of all failed projects were due to poor requirements management. Failure to define software requirements can lead to costly mistakes, delays, and even the scrapping of the entire project.
In this blog post, we will explore the importance of correctly defining software requirements for custom software development, and how it can help businesses achieve their goals efficiently and effectively. We’ll also cover some best practices for successfully gathering and managing software requirements to ensure that your software development project is a success.
Why Define Software Requirements?
- Provide a clear picture of what the software should do – what features it should have, and how it should perform
- Identify potential problems and challenges early in the development process
- Manage expectations and reduce risk of misunderstandings or disputes between development teams and clients
Identify Stakeholders and Their Needs
Stakeholders are the people who will use your software and have a vested interest in its success. We won’t go into many details here but in short they could be summed up as:
- The end users of your product (the actual people who will be using it)
- Your clients or customers, if you’re working on behalf of someone else
- Your own team members, including developers and testers
Define Business and User Requirements
In order to define software requirements, you must first determine what business and user requirements are. Generally, business requirements define the goals and objectives of the software from a business perspective. For example: “Our new accounting system must be able to track all incoming payments in real time.”
User Requirements describe what end-users need the software to do for them. For example: “As an employee, I want my supervisor’s approval before submitting any expense reports.”
Prioritize Requirements
Prioritizing features is an important part of the process, as it helps focus the development effort. You want to ensure that the most critical features are implemented first, so that your users can start getting value from your product as soon as possible.
A good way to prioritize requirements is by creating a product backlog (also known as a “feature backlog”). The product owner or project manager can use this list to track all of their ideas for new features and enhancements, then prioritize them based on their importance for business success and customer satisfaction.
Once you’ve identified high-value user stories or use cases, you rank them according to their priority: low, medium or high? This ranking will help determine which ones need more attention during planning sessions with stakeholders so everyone knows what needs doing first before moving onto other tasks later down in order line up nicely with deadlines set out at start point when planning project schedule
Define Functional and Non-Functional Requirements
Functional requirements describe what the software should do. They specify what the system will do and how it will behave, in terms of its inputs, outputs and processing logic.
For example: “The system must be able to process an order for a new customer.”
Non-functional requirements describe how you want your system to perform (or behave) in addition to what it does. These include performance characteristics such as speed or throughput, reliability/availability goals, usability considerations such as ease-of-use for end users, security measures that protect against unauthorized access or modification of data by unauthorized users
Create Use Cases and User Stories
Use Cases and User Stories are two of the most common ways to define software requirements. A use case is a description of how an end-user will interact with your software, while a user story describes how they should be able to accomplish their goals.
A use case typically includes:
- A name that identifies it as a specific type of interaction (e.g., “Login”).
- The people who are involved in the interaction (e.g., “End User” and “Administrator”). These are people or systems that interact with your software in some way. They don’t necessarily have anything to do with development. For example, if you’re building an app for retail stores, one party would be the customers coming into stores; another might be employees working there; yet another could even be other companies that sell products through those retail outlets…you get the idea! You can also add additional roles if needed (like “Salesperson”).
- The goal(s) being pursued by each actor during this interaction (e.g., “Buy Items From Store”). This should include both functional requirements (what happens?) as well as non-functional ones (when does it happen?).
Review and Refine Requirements
The next step is to review and refine the requirements. This involves:
- Getting feedback from stakeholders, who may have additional needs that weren’t previously identified.
- Reviewing the requirements for completeness and consistency. If there are gaps or inconsistencies in your understanding of what you’re building, then it’s time to make some adjustments!
- Making any necessary changes before moving on to analysis and design stages of software development.
By following the steps outlined in this blog post, you can successfully define software requirements and prioritize them based on their importance to stakeholders and the overall goals of the project. Remember to review and refine the requirements periodically to ensure that they accurately reflect the needs of all stakeholders. With a well-defined set of software requirements, you can create a powerful custom software solution that provides real value to your business.
What’s next?
QTeam has been helping companies develop, improve and test their software development solutions for more than 5 years with great results and we can do the same for you.
Whatever your idea is, we can help you turn it into software.