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Prioritize Requirements

Purpose:

  • Rank requirements by importance

Description:

  • Prioritize to:

    • Rank by stakeholders' importance

    • Adjust as context changes

    • Identify inter-dependencies

    • Maximize value

Inputs

  • Requirements: Text, matrices, or diagrams ready for prioritization.

  • Designs: Text, prototypes, or diagrams ready for prioritization.

Elements

  • 2.1 Basis for Prioritization

    • Stakeholder Agreement: Agreement on prioritization basis defined by relevant stakeholders.

    • Factors Influencing Prioritization:

      • Benefit: Advantage to stakeholders from requirement implementation.

      • Penalty: Consequences of not implementing a requirement.

      • Cost: Effort and resources needed for implementation.

      • Risk: Chance of requirement not delivering value or not being met.

      • Dependencies: Relationships between requirements.

      • Time Sensitivity: Value decay after a certain period.

      • Stability: Likelihood of requirement change.

      • Regulatory or Policy Compliance: Requirements for meeting regulations or policies.

  • 2.2 Challenges of Prioritization

    • Stakeholder Conflict: Different values leading to conflicts.

    • Difficulty in Lower Prioritization: Stakeholders finding it hard to characterize a requirement as lower priority.

    • Influence on Outcome: Stakeholders intentionally or unintentionally influencing prioritization.

    • Trade-offs: Necessary trade-offs due to conflicting requirements.

  • 2.3 Continual Prioritization

    • Shifts in Priorities: Evolving context leading to shifting priorities.

    • Refinement of Requirements: Prioritization at a more granular level as requirements are refined.

    • Changing Basis for Prioritization: Different bases for prioritization at various stages of the change process.

Guidelines and Tools:

  • Business Constraints: Regulatory, contractual, and policy influences.

  • Change Strategy: Cost, timeline, and value considerations.

  • Domain Knowledge: Business domain expertise for prioritization.

  • Governance Approach: Defining prioritization methods.

  • Requirements Architecture: Understanding requirement relationships.

  • Requirements Management Tools: Prioritization attributes aid sorting.

  • Solution Scope: Managing scope during prioritization.

Techniques:

  • Backlog Management: Centralized prioritization location.

  • Business Cases: Aligning requirements with business goals.

  • Decision Analysis: Identifying high-value requirements.

  • Estimation: Providing basis for prioritization.

  • Financial Analysis: Assessing financial value and timing.

  • Interviews: Understanding stakeholder priorities.

  • Item Tracking: Recording stakeholder issues.

  • Prioritization: Facilitating prioritization process.

  • Risk Analysis: Understanding risks for prioritization.

  • Workshops: Group setting for stakeholder priorities.

Stakeholders:

  • Customer & End User: Verify value, negotiate.

  • Implementation SME: Technical input, constraints.

  • Project Manager: Planning, release allocation.

  • Regulator: Legal alignment.

  • Sponsor: Organizational value.

Outputs:

  • Prioritized Requirements: Highest value first.

  • Prioritized Designs: Top designs addressed first.

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