Writing valuable requirements is important. It doesn’t matter how well your teams execute if they are off building the wrong products / capabilities / features. The right products and capabilities are the ones that have relevant value.
Austin’s 3rd UnConference for product managers and product marketing managers is coming up on August 15t. If you’re in Austin or can come to Austin, you should definitely plan on participating – it’s free, and a great opportunity to network, share, and learn.
User stories can make requirements management a lot easier. They shift some of the communication from up-front documentation to ongoing dialog. That’s the main reason they work so well for agile teams. And agile teams focus on “what’s next?” instead of an ever-changing “what’s everything?” The problem is, when those conversations are working well, it is easy to forget to make sure that what you’ve done is actually enough. Add a small dose of traceability, and you can easily validate the completeness of your user stories.