Writing Better Requirements

 

Introduction

This 2 day course provides the Business Analyst with the skills and techniques for writing better requirements, for getting the requirements right first time and dealing with requirements related issues such as unrealistic timescales.

Target Audience

BACA Level 2-3

The course is aimed at Business Analysts with at least 1 year of experience.

The recommended maximum number of delegates on each course is ten persons.

Approach

The course is highly interactive and delegates are encouraged to learn through group exercises including a case study.

Instructors

Instructors are experienced Business Analysts with a minimum of 10 years experience. They can therefore quote real-life examples as well as being able to confidently field delegates’ questions that might relate to projects or scenarios outside the scope of the course.

Course Objectives

The course aims to provide a thorough set of techniques for defining and writing requirements. By the end of the course the delegate will be able to:

• Understand the requirements hierarchy and the need for different levels of requirement

• Write unambiguous, well structured requirements

• Choose the right technique and style for documenting requirements

• Use appropriate techniques to get the requirements right first time

• Estimate for requirements definition correctly

• Deal with ‘time-boxing’ constraints for analysis

Course Duration

This course runs for 2 days. An optional 3rd day can be included to review the requirements approach for an organisation or a particular project within it.

Course Content

1. The requirements life-cycle and levels of requirement

1.1 Business requirements

1.2 Functional requirements

1.3 Non-functional requirements

1.4 Detailed requirements

2. Approaches to requirements definition

2.1 Types of project

2.2 Factors affecting approach

2.3 Requirements style

2.4 Structure of a requirements document

2.5 Working with off-shored developers and third parties

3. Anatomy of a good requirement

3.1 Ambiguity

3.2 Fit with objectives

3.3 Readability

3.4 Requirements quality from a business perspective

3.5 Requirements quality from a technical perspective

4. Estimating for Requirements Analysis

4.1 Problem breakdown

4.2 Influencing factors

4.3 Evaluating project risk

4.4 Estimating techniques

4.5 Planning Poker

4.6 Dealing with time-boxed requirements

5. Techniques for better requirements

5.1 Using Prototypes

5.2 Process and Data Modelling

5.3 Use Cases and User Stories

6. Checking and Reviewing Requirements

6.1 Internal QA

6.2 Delivery transition

6.3 Business Sign-Off
 

Available Courses

This is available as an on-site course only, no public courses are scheduled.



If you would like further information on our courses, or would like to discuss how we can build a course for your organisation using our training modules, please contact us.