Requirements Definition – Are we Done Yet? – Conclusion

Ludwig Wittgenstein stated “The riddle does not exist. If the question can be put at all, then it can also be answered.”

I suspect that Ludwig ever had to deal with requirements!!!  You will never be done with requirements because things change – businesses change, technology changes, competition changes, people change. And, it is because of this inevitable change I feel that the question “When do we know we are done?” cannot be answered with 100% confidence.

However, if you assess requirement completeness within the confines of:

• your defined scope,
• the developed models
• your organization’s comprehensive requirements document templates; and
• you enlist your stakeholders’ participation to confirm a comprehensive and correct set of requirements; and
• you evaluate the potential costs of future changes with that required to foresee every requirement,

Then you can answer that question we often hear during the requirements phase – are we done yet?

The answer?? No we are not done yet but we are done enough to proceed to design.