Do we have good requirements? I hear that question asked all the time as I work with our various customers.  Many organizations are looking to measure whether or not they have good requirements. Researchers are working on new methods to measure the quality of requirements.

Unfortunately, both groups are trying to solve the wrong problem. The end game isn’t about requirements – or even project deadlines and budgets. The real target is the value a project actually delivers to an organization. Things like increasing revenue by a measurable amount or decreasing operational costs really are the end goal, and ultimately the measure of success.

So how do we have a really successful project? There are several things we can do:

1. First, we need to start with understanding the desired value of the project.
2. We need to align requirements efforts to elicit and specify only the requirements that will deliver that value.
3. Then we work with development and test organizations to make sure the whole team maintains a razor sharp focus on delivering the desired value.

Want to learn more? Join me for the PMI-OC Conference on September 10, 2016 in Anaheim, CA. You can learn more about the event and register here:  https://www.pmi-oc.org/conference