6 Steps to Requirements Prioritization Step 1: Understand the Purpose & Strategy for Prioritization What will you do with the prioritized items? Prioritize to eliminate items, ensure alignment to objectives, plan scheduling, manage scope creep, etc Identify items to prioritize
Step 2: List the Customer Needs Select what factors the stakeholders feel are important in prioritizing the requirements List the factors that drive the characteristics, scope and functionality of the software product List the business benefits or objectives (cost savings, revenue impact, ease of use, utility, etc) Determine the customer importance of each
Step 3: List the Requirements List the Requirements, either individually, or by cluster (Activity, Function, etc) Place as the columns Use labels and numbers if cross-reference is helpful If more than 20-30, separate and iterate
Step 4: Facilitate the Rating of the Need / Requirements Interrelationships Potentially laborious task must be well facilitated There are two options: 1) Pre-session survey; 2) In-session voting Use chosen numerically assigned scales Key Success Factors for need rating
1) Set-up – Get the right needs & requirements chosen (purpose-based) 2) Involvement – Get the right stakeholders involved 3) Facilitation – Skill as a facilitator 4) Tools – Use the right methods and tools for voting Once completed, calculate the weighted importance rating for each column
Step 5: Determine Technical / Development Factors Usually this is a separate session: Project Team and Technical SMEs Estimate the resource and cost requirements Typical factors are level of effort (or resource requirements), technical difficulty, and cost
Step 6: Determine the Priority Rating Facilitate the priority rating for each column (requirement) based on the Importance Rating, and Technical / Development factors Record earlier decisions made on ratings and scores allow for easier consensus and agreement, and more accurate and effective decisions based on agreed criteria and factors Remember to reference, walkthrough, and review the requirements and specifications Techniques: blind voting, statistical calculations, mapping, group discussions, group decision-making, 4 quadrant graph, or executive decision Update the requirements document with the rating scores As necessary, continue to determine the decisions on the requirement, the schedule and the responsibility
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