In software development we are used to the term ‘requirement'. I don't like this term and I will explain why.
Using the word requirement puts a strong emphasis on 'required'; 'this is something that is required' or it is 'something the business MUST have to succeed'. But by describing it as required, there is no room for discussion. Is this really what the business needs? Does it make sense? Or is there maybe a better solution? What if we can achieve the same outcome in a different way?
If it really was required, the business would not exist or even function. So by definition what the business asks for cannot be a requirement, a necessity. There is no such thing as a requirement
When I hear the word requirement, I always have to think about the following quote:
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
Although there is no evidence that Henry Ford ever said those words, I believe he was certainly thinking it.
If you state something as required, you leave out the greatest power that development teams have to offer; there creativity. Development teams are experts in creating value through information technology. So let them…
Ideas and Hypotheses
I would suggest to replace the word requirement by idea. By talking about ideas, you immediately create room for others to weigh in. Ideas can be good or bad. They can be improved, other(better?) ideas can be suggested and benefits can be measured against the costs.
Mark Schwartz suggests in his book A seat at the table to use the word hypothesis. He states there is no way we know for sure that what we will build will add business value. To prove his point, Mark refers to a study done by Microsoft that found that 60-90% of ideas do not actually improve the metric they were intended to improve.
So let’s throw out these old requirements, focus on the desired outcomes and start asking more questions.