Writing unambiguous requirements is about understanding what is written, and what is read. Without a clear understanding of your market, you can’t write unambiguously. Even when you understand your market, you risk writing something that is ambiguous to your readers. Documenting requirements is about communication. Don’t break this rule, or you’ve wasted all the energy you spent understanding your requirements.
Category Archives: Requirements
The High Costs of Building the Wrong Product
As product managers, we talk about creating the right solutions with our products. Understanding the very real problems our customers face, understanding the very real opportunities our markets present, and manifesting that understanding in a product roadmap.
Other than being “not as good,” how expensive is it to build the wrong product?
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The One Idea of Your Product
“For what one idea do you want your product to stand in the mind of your customer?” I heard Roger Cauvin ask that question at the most recent ProductCamp Austin [correction - he said it here - thanks Roger], and the quote has been jumping to the front of my mind almost daily ever since. Maybe by writing about it I can exorcise the demon and get back to using the idea instead of being haunted by it.
Consistent Requirements
Consistency in writing requirements is important on two levels – strategic and tactical. Tactically, you need to write your requirements with grammatical consistency, so that potentially ambiguous statements will be interpreted similarly. You also need to write requirements that are logically consistent, so that you avoid “impossible” requirements and gaps of unspecified meaning. Strategically, your requirements need to reflect a focus on markets and problems that are consistent with your business objectives and the vision your company is manifesting
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Minimum Market Acceptance
April Dunford just presented Startup Marketing 101 at DemoCamp Toronto. Great ideas from the ‘marketing and your startup’ point of view. I’ve often said that product managers and product marketers care about much of the same market data, they just do different things with it. The idea of minimal feature set came up in April’s presentation – this article talks about product management, agile, and initial market acceptance.
Business Goals and Requirements
One of my colleagues got into a debate with one of his colleagues about the differences between goals and requirements. His opponent fired the following salvo: “[That] is not a business requirement in any company of the world…”
What you call your requirements is less important than how you communicate them.
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Measuring Great Design – Mad Libs Input Form
I came across a really interesting article LukeW.com, showing how making changes to the way an input form on a website increased interaction by 25 to 40%. The changes reflect the value of thinking outside-in, investing in user experience, and performance measurement.
Bonus: the idea is cool.
Complete Requirements
You give your requirements to the engineering team, and they look complete. The team builds your product, you launch it and the market soundly rejects it. Why? Because your requirements weren’t complete – they didn’t actually solve the problem that needed to be solved.
Most Engaging Articles of 2009
Engagement – that’s what this whole product management blogging thing is about. Check out what Tyner Blain readers found to be the most engaging articles in 2009.
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Attainable Requirements
Unless you live in a world filled with unicorns and rainbows, writing realistic requirements is critical. When you set unattainable goals, the best result you can hope for is a frustrated engineering team. Write requirements that are attainable, and your team will surprise you with what they can achieve.
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