Book Review Department Editor Warren Keuffel

Helpful Tips for All Stages of Requirements Management

Caroline Pepa

Just Enough Requirements Management: Where Software Development Meets Marketing by Alan M. Davis, Dorset House, 2005, ISBN 0-93263364-1, 240 pages, US$33.95.

In Just Enough Requirements Management: Where Software Development Meets Marketing, Alan M. Davis distills the requirements development process to its most basic components. Anyone involved with software requirements activities will appreciate the book’s guidance regarding the necessary balancing act for determining which requirements to implement in a product release. The “just enough” aspect helps readers find the best balance between development extremes—from no process to heavy process, no standards to rigid standards, no documentation to heavy documentation, high risk to low risk—that’s appropriate for the software product being developed.

Davis provides solid advice for practitioners at all levels of requirements development and management. One point he makes throughout is that marketing and software project management must work “in parallel” to meet the stakeholders’ and development organization’s needs. This doesn’t necessarily mean “give them everything they want” every time; rather, it’s finding a cost-effective way to meet as many stakeholder needs as possible within a reasonable time frame, given available resources. 

Davis encourages software project managers to consider alternative solutions to the time, resources, and requirements combination for various product releases. They should also compromise on requirements changes, letting go of the notion that baselined requirements must remain fixed. Davis provides excellent guidance on addressing requirements gathering, documenting requirements clearly and concisely, and knowing when to incorporate change (and how much) into any product release.

Davis begins with an overview of requirements management and how requirements fit into software product development. He shows how requirements management practices overlap with other disciplines, such as project management and configuration management. He also thoroughly discusses requirements elicitation, triage, and specification. These chapters begin with definitions and terminology and end with “secrets of just enough” for success. Sandwiched between are simple explanations and illustrations. For example, although elicitation and specification are common software requirements development terms, triage more often describes medical personnel responding to injury victims. But when this term is used in the context of dealing with the “requirements-versus-resources tension” and trying to find the best course of action, it really fits.

Another chapter addresses requirements changes—their origins, tracking and handling, change control boards, and, of course, “secrets of just enough” requirements change. Change requests are normally a good thing—they show that people are actually using your product. Davis’s message is that change will happen. How well you manage it is up to you.

The final chapter summarizes the key points, and two appendices contain “quick recipes” and a set of documented requirements. Davis cautions the reader against trying to follow the recipes without first reading and understanding the book. The documented requirements provide what many requirements books lack—one complete example that illustrates the key topics.

Davis concludes with an extensive list of references and additional readings, including a URL for a regularly updated list of requirements readings (see http://web.uccs.edu/adavis/reqbib.htm).

Just Enough Requirements Management would make an excellent companion text or additional reading for a requirements course. It’s also a valuable reference for anyone involved in software development, including those involved with defining process improvement for their organization. However, I wouldn’t recommend it as an introductory text in a college course without supplemental material.