Discussion of who does requirements and specifications

1. DevConFu, Latvia
November2013
Requirements:
Who’s job are they anyway?
allan kelly
allan@allankelly.net
Twitter: @allankellynet
http://www.allankelly.net

2. Allan Kelly…
 Consulting on software
development & strategy
 Training for Agile
Author
– Changing Software Development: Learning to be
Agile (2008, Wiley)
– Business Patterns for Software Developers
(2012, Wiley - ISBN: 978-1119999249)
– Xanpan: Reflections on agile (work in progress)
https://leanpub.com/xanpan
Chapters in…
• Business Analysis and Leadership, Pullan & Archer
2013
• 97 Things Every Programmer Should
Know, Henney, 2010
• Context Encapsulation in Pattern Languages of
Program Design, vol#5, 2006

3. 3 Styles of Agile
Evolutionary
•
•
•
•
Incremental
•
•
•
•
Iterative
•
•
•
•
Development team work in short iterations
Regular releases
Requirements emerge as team incorporates
feedback and discovers new opportunities
Cumulative flow diagrams
Development team work in short iterations
Minor releases frequent
Formal requirements document start
development with change request incorporated
Burn-up more than burn-down
Development team work in short iterations
Major releases infrequent
Formal requirements document (Salami Sliced) Formal change request process in place
Burn-down to completion
4

4. Who does
Requirements where
you work?

5. Hang on!
What is a Requirement
anyway?
And what’s the
difference between a
Requirement and a
Specification?

6. Requirement or Specification?
“A requirement is a stakeholderdesired, or needed, target or constraint”
Tom Gilb
“A ‘specification’ communicated
one or more system ideas and/or
descriptions to an intended
audience. A specification is usually
a formal, written means for
communicating information”
Competitive Engineering, 2005, p.400 & p. 418

7. A requirement is a desired relationship among phenomena
of the environment of a system, to be brought about by the
hardware/software machine that will be constructed and
installed in the environment.
A specification describes machine behaviour sufficient to
achieve the requirement.
A specification is a restricted kind of requirement …
Specifications are derived from requirements by reasoning
about the environment, …
These ideas, and some associated techniques of
description, are illustrated by a simple example.
Michael Jackson & Pamela Zave
Deriving Specifications from Requirements: An Example, ACM Press 1995

8. Requirements & Specification
• Specifications derive from Requirements
– Requirements come first
• A requirement
– Is the desired outcome
• A specification
– Context specific
– Contains details

9. Requirements
go In
Dev Team –
Coders,
Testers, etc. …
Blue Cards
Documents, Stories,
User Stories, Cukes,
Product Backlog Item,
Quantum of Value (QoV)
Business Value Increment (BVI)
Working Software
comes out

10. Requirements
go In
Dev Team –
Coders, Tester
s, etc. …
Team need to know
what is needed
Working Software
comes out
Specifications be
worked out inside if
necessary

11. Requirements
go In
Working Software
comes out
Stakeholders
don’t always
agree
Things change

12. An aside: Evaluation
• Who does your
evaluation?
• What criteria do
they use?
Please please
please!
Close the loop!

13. Keep work flowing!
Every 2 weeks….
Development Team
Working
software
Teams will be more
effective if arteries are clear

14. Requirements Engineering
The Need Side
Requirements go In
Stakeholders
don’t always
agree
Things change!

15. Nature Abhors: A Vacuum!
• If you are lucky…
– Someone will quietly come forward
– They will be competent & passionate
– They will double up their existing role
• If you are unlucky…
– Several people will assume the role
– They be be incompetent & passionate
– They will stop doing their existing role
Grass Creative Commons license from
WikiCommons by MarcusObal

16. Whose job a
Requirements?
It depends…

17. Business Analysts
Business Partners
Product Managers
Product Analysts
Architects, Developers, Dev Managers, Project
Managers, Testers, SMEs, ….
Well intentioned
amateurs
The Professionals
Requirements Engineering

18. Requirements?
Professionals
Product Managers &
Business Analysts
Amateurs
Subject Matter Experts
Domain Experts
Developers, Dev Managers,
Project Managers, Testers,
Architects….

19. Should developers do Reqs?
• Possibly…
– small work effort, small team
•
•
•
•
Are they presentable to customers?
Is it best use of their skills?
Do they have time?
Do they have empathy?
– with users/stakeholders?

20. Architects?
• Again: Is it the best use of skills?
– Do they have the skills?
– Do they have the time?
• Generally: No
– Architects have empathy with tech not people
– Architects represent tech & code
– Architects should be foil to Requirements people
• Only for systems were technology dominates

21. And the SME/Domain Expert…
• Sometimes
• Subject Matter Experts are great
for Specs
– Know detail
• But do they…
– Have Big Picture?
– Are they too close emotionally?

22. Rocket Scientists
• Combine multiple skill sets
– Domain knowledge, probably
spent time in field
– Technology, probably can code
– Probably have a PhD
• Probably have another title
– BA, Product Manager, Architect, …
– Chief Engineer
– Just roll with it - Who cares about
titles?

23. So who should?
• Requirements Engineers
– Business Analysts
– Product Managers

24. Requirements Sub-Species
Business Analyst
“The answers are in this
building”
• Works: Corporate
• Lives: Canary Wharf
• Users
• Wants: Happy Stakeholders
• Measured by: Cost
• Professional Proxy
Product Manager
“The answers are not in
this building”
• Works: Product Company
• Lives: Silicon Valley
• Customers
• Wants: Happy Customers
• Measure by: Revenue
• Professional Customer
Note: Plural of Customer is
The Market

25. Product Owner huh?
• Scrum Product Owner is the Bastard Child of
Business Analyst and Product Managers
– Neither one or other
• Product Owner as defined by Scrum is a pale
imitation of a Product Manager
• Product Owner is the really important role
– (but Scrum Master gets all the attention)
• Product Owner is useful alias for a BA or PM
– And others…

26. When worlds collide! “What’s the difference
“A customer has a choice
to use another product.
A user doesn’t.”
Allan Kelly
between a user and a
customer? The difference is
a customer has given you
their credit card data.”
FT 28 Jan 2013
Worlds are increasingly overlapping
• BAs need to pay more attention to out there
• Prod Mgrs need to pay more attention to in here
• Everyone needs to start with real customers

27. Feedback
  

28. Take-away
1. Who’s job is it?
– Horses for courses
•
•
•
•
Business Analyst
Product Manager
Specialist SME
Rocket Scientist SME
2. Do NOT tolerate vacuums
3. Product Owner is an alias
http://blog.allankelly.net
allan kelly
Software Strategy Ltd.
www.allankelly.net
allan@allankelly.net
Twitter: @allankellynet

29. Partners: