Requirements: What Project Managers Need to Know

by James Robertson, Suzanne Robertson

Suppose you decide to hold a birthday party for your best friend. You decide on a Middle Eastern menu: Tzaziki, garlic-marinated olives, grilled aubergines, lamb kofta, tabbouleh, freshly made pita bread, and a large plate of baklava to finish. Maybe you would start with some champagne and then serve a rosé wine. That, along with some mint tea and Arabic coffee, should make a special birthday meal. Now you need to plan all the things that you have to do in order to make the party a reality. You make a list of all the ingredients and where you will buy them and you identify everything that you need to do to prepare the dishes on the menu. The tasks in your plan are based on the details of the dishes that you intend to prepare. In other words, you have identified the requirements (in this case the meal you will prepare) and then designed tasks that will help you to meet them.