What are Requirements and why are they Important

Let’s start with the ‘What’…

In simplistic terms, requirements are the detailed needs of a business that will drive the design and delivery of a change into that business.

In many cases the business may need an external specialist supplier who will design and deliver the complex technical, or process functionality that the change contains. The supplier (be they internal or external to the business), uses the requirements to define what they need to design, build and deliver, to fulfil the customer’s wants and needs.

That being the case, we can see that it is important that both parties understand those requirements in the same way… Sounds simple, huh?

The problem is that, in many cases, the customer and the supplier can be speaking different (technical) languages – misunderstanding one another – but neither may realise it. This might sound hard to believe, but with the ever-increasing complexity of technology, regulations, processes, etc., a business may not be able to stay up to date with it all. This applies especially to small and medium-sized businesses, who may well have each of their people covering a number of roles.

So, discussion with suppliers can take place with both assuming that the other understands and is agreeing to the same thing, but they have actually created two differing paths, creating a split in their joint understanding.

This can be where things can go wrong. Customers may be expecting one thing but can end up with outcomes that differ significantly from those expectations. So, without realising it, a supplier could lose the confidence and respect of their customer, and the customer could be seen as being ‘difficult’ or trying to get more than they are paying for. This all results in rework and the inevitable arguments over who pays for it, along with the disappointing experience on both sides.

Such negative experiences can also delay the benefits from the change being realised, meaning that the business is losing from both sides of the situation – still spending time, effort and money on the change, and still not benefiting from having the change in place (delivering cost savings, increased profitability, greater efficiencies, etc.)

Therefore, the objective is to make sure that everyone understands what needs to be delivered in the same way, with the same contexts.

A simple example to let the Eggs get sucked…

How are requirements defined?

You’re buying a new car – how do you decide which car model and what additional features you will need? Do you choose the two-door sports convertible, or do you go for the 5-door family estate, or maybe you need a bus?

Let’s start the ball rolling on the types of things you might consider…

• The mileage you usually drive
• Whether you’re single or you have a family
• The type of lifestyle you have

So, which vehicle should you choose… Hmm?

It depends, doesn’t it?

It depends on what you use the car for, your circumstances, what your current and future needs are – who’ll drive it, distances driven, who else will be in it when it’s driven, how often it will be used, engine type, how reliable the vehicle is, its miles per kWh/gallon, maintenance costs…

It depends on your requirements.

So, when visiting the various dealers to choose which vehicles you want to test-drive, you would balance your desires against your needs. You’ll make sure that the dealer can provide all the additional things you need so that the vehicle will fulfil your requirements.

Then, after all the test-drives, you’ll check with your partner – your main stakeholder in this decision – to walk through the pros and cons of each model to agree which is the right vehicle.

This example is simplistic, but it is essentially the same approach to use when you’re thinking of doing a major change in your business. Albeit that a business change might be more complex and could have a few more aspects surrounding it…

Change isn’t just about The Change in front of you…

Changing one aspect of your business could have an effect on other aspects of your business.

Successful small businesses tend to grow organically into medium sized businesses, building their processes, and as they progress, they continue to create and adjust those processes, creating the business’ culture – ‘The Way We do Things Round Here’…

So, when that business needs, or chooses to carry out a change, will they want to have to change their business culture – ‘The Way They Do Things Round There’ – to suit the new application, new piece of kit, changes to a product workflow or service? Or is there a way of designing the change so it fits your existing business culture – ‘Your Way Of Doing Things’ in your business?

In truth, the outcome will probably end up being somewhere between the two. BUT the major point is, the business stays in control and makes the choice.

You choose to understand what is changing in your business, how it will affect other parts of your business, and you gain an understanding of how you will cope with those changes – you make change work for you to grow your business and strengthen your business culture. You create the new and better ‘Way We Do Things Round Here’, so that you, and everyone in your organisation – whether it be large or small – understands the changes, they work within the improved culture, and understand the benefits to the business and their roles in it.

Photo by the blowup on Unsplash

So, in the cycle of change, from the initial concept to the finished change and the realisation of the benefits, the key phase that will have the greatest effect on the outcomes is the definition of the change.

And the definition of the change…

…Is (SURPRISE!!!) The Requirements – the clearly understood definitions of what the business needs to have in place (the outcomes) once the change has been delivered so as to derive maximum benefit from its delivery.

From the definition of your requirements and what they produce, it is the benefits generated that are the gold at the end of the rainbow. And it is the supplier’s technical requirements that are used to design, build and deliver the outcomes that will realise those benefits.

You might say that the requirements are the translation of your needs into a language that allows the person creating the change to have the same understanding of the required outcomes as you have – whether it be a process, software, hardware, a new building, a product, service, object, image…

BUT what you want to avoid is the situation where the change wears away at the other parts of your business, that are experiencing knock-on impacts from the change, creating gaps and uncontrolled changes, causing you to create workarounds, adding more manual elements and raising the possibility of things going wrong. But this will be covered in another blog, at a later date.

If you can’t wait or are in the midst of a change that isn’t progressing the way you need it to, Get in touch. Understanding how to avoid this by careful analysis, planning, questioning and listening is a key part of the Change Manager’s role.

Thanks for taking the time to read this blog

If you’ve found this blog to be helpful and would like to find out more, or if you are either in the middle of a change or are thinking of starting a change project and want to talk it through, go to the ‘Get In Touch page’ or call us on the number at the top or bottom of this blog page.