Project Requirements: The only Truth

An ideal Project Requirement document defines all the deliverables in detail with the dependencies among them and there is no requirement change during the lifetime of a project but in real world there is no ideal project requirement document. Change request is an integral part of a project and I don't believe that there is any project completed without a change request and I am sure most of you will agree with me on this. But this doesn't imply that project requirement document is of no use and is just a formality. The main purpose of a requirement document is to record all the requirements initially and it needs to be updated with different change request that may surfaces during the project lifetime. 

If we record any requirement wrong or if there is any part which is left uncovered then the project will experience setbacks during the course of execution. So while writing down the project requirements one should always make sure that every part of the project is covered in the requirements and there is no ambiguity. It’s the project requirements which act as the basis for project plan and if we get all the requirements correct then only we'll have the correct project plan followed by timely project execution.

"It’s better to assume then to leave any requirement incomplete and ambiguous"

Let’s see how important is to make sure that we've have the correct and unambiguous requirements in case of a software project. Let’s assume a project xyz is near to its completion and testing phase of the project is going on. Testing is basically a process to make sure that behavior of the software is as per the requirements. What if the requirements collected in the very beginning of the project were ambiguous or incomplete then how a tester is going to make sure that the product that he/she is testing is what the customer asked for. The only way out is to ask the project sponsor one more time but it’s not that easy as it looks because the sponsor may now ask for something to which you never agreed upon but due to incomplete and ambiguous requirements you don't have any solid document that shows what were the initial requirements of the project and what you have agreed upon for delivering. I would conclude that without having a base lined project requirement document it's difficult to deliver a project on time and within budget.

So, one of the most important building block of a project is its requirement document.