Defining Project Requirements

Name: Defining Project Requirements
Author: Jeff Hedrington

Learn to define the requirements that are integral for project success.

Preview the first lesson free — get full access to all 4 lessons.

Course: On-Demand

(soft music) Welcome to KnowledgeCity's course on defining project requirements. In these lessons, we'll describe each of the separate components of project management and how they're interrelated. We'll also uncover what makes for a successful project management experience and discuss solutions to common challenges. You'll learn the definition of stakeholders and discover other prominent people involved in project management. So let's get started. Effective project management begins with understanding the relationship between scope, requirements, and stakeholders, and why it's important to have clear requirements with a commonly understood scope for project work. One of the key components of successful project management is understanding the work to be done, known by the project managers as the project scope. The Project Management Institute's Project Management Body of Knowledge or PMBOK, defines project scope as the work that needs to be accomplished to deliver a product, service, or result with the specified features and functions. A well defined project scope statement provides the boundaries of the project so everyone involved knows what is expected by the project team. In-scope items are the detailed set of deliverables and features to be provided by the project. Out-of-scope items are described but is also clarified that these items were considered and will not be provided by the project. Scope is documented in a scope statement or statement of work. And the project is managed to the scope definition. A statement of work, or SOW, is a formal document for a vendor that defines the entire scope of work and clarifies deliverables, costs, and deadlines. It includes individual tasks and the roles and responsibilities for both the vendor and project team customer. Scope is the summary of all the products, services, or results that the project is expected to produce. According to PMBOK, stakeholders are defined as individuals and organizations who are actively involved in the project or whose interests may be positively or negatively affected as a result of project execution or successful project completion. You can think of it like this, stakeholders are the people who care about or contribute to the project in a meaningful way. Projects stakeholders typically include the project sponsor who funds or arranges for funding, the customers who will use what is produced by the project, the project team involved in doing the work, the project manager, who is responsible for delivering the project, and those who contribute to and determine the project scope. Project managers have several responsibilities and typically work closely with all stakeholders to facilitate scope definition which include leading the team responsible for achieving project objectives, developing a detailed project management plan to track project activities, facilitating requirements gathering, user-acceptable testing, and stakeholder involvement, managing requirements and project priorities, communicating project status to the stakeholders on behalf of the project team, enforcing requirements management and effective change control, managing the scope, quality, budget, and timeline on behalf of the stakeholders. Requirements are formally defined by the PMBOK as a condition or capability to be present in a product, service, or result to satisfy its specifications. Requirements are the detailed individual capabilities that the project is expected to produce. Sometimes it takes time to gather and prioritize the requirements versus writing a summary scope. Some project teams and stakeholders work from the top down by first setting the scope, then gathering the details. Others work from the bottom up to gather all the requirements before writing the summary scope statement. It is also common for senior leadership to write a high level scope statement. Then the project team will gather all the requirements and finally refine the scope statements.

Intermediate Provider : Jeff Hedrington 4 Lessons · 16m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Urdu, Chinese

Course Description

The first step in using requirements in project management is being able to define them. Project scope, project requirements, and stakeholder management are all key to making projects successful, on-time, and under-budget. Though they’re all distinct, these interrelated concepts are necessary to keep a project moving towards its completion. As a project manager, it’s important that you’re able to recognize these factors and execute them in a timely manner.

In these lessons, you’ll learn how to define project scope and project requirements, so you understand their significance. We’ll address practical strategies for identifying the people needed to gather requirements and how to interact with them. You’ll also discover the different roles of project managers, stakeholders, and subject-matter experts, and how these key individuals can impact a project’s progress. You’ll learn the different categories and types of technical and business requirements. Finally, we’ll cover some of the challenges that requirements gathering brings to project management, and how to overcome them.

What You'll Learn

Define project scope, project requirements, and the statement of work
Identify the people needed to gather requirements and how to interact with them
Distinguish the different categories and types of technical and business requirements
Recognize the roles of project managers, stakeholders, and subject-matter experts and their impact on a project
Apply requirements gathering across Agile, waterfall, and hybrid methodologies
Overcome common challenges that requirements gathering poses to project management

Key Takeaways

Defining requirements is the first step in using requirements in project management.
Project scope, project requirements, and stakeholder management are distinct but interrelated concepts that keep a project moving toward completion.
Project managers, stakeholders, and subject-matter experts each play different roles that can impact a project's progress.
Requirements fall into different categories and types, including technical and business requirements, that each need to be gathered.
Requirements can be gathered using Agile, waterfall, and hybrid methodologies.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will I learn in this course?

You will learn how to define project scope and project requirements, identify and interact with the people needed to gather requirements, understand the roles of project managers, stakeholders, and subject-matter experts, recognize the categories and types of technical and business requirements, and address the challenges that requirements gathering brings to project management.

Who are the key individuals discussed in this course?

The course covers the different roles of project managers, stakeholders, and subject-matter experts, and how these key individuals can impact a project's progress.

Does the course cover specific project management methodologies?

Yes. It covers requirements gathering for Agile, waterfall, and hybrid methodologies.

What topics are covered in the lessons?

The lessons cover Defining Scope, Requirements, and Stakeholders; Types of Project Requirements; Challenges Posed to Project Management; and a Test Your Knowledge section.

What skills does this course help build?

The course supports skills in Project Management, Project Planning, Requirements Engineering, Requirements Elicitation, Requirements Management, and Stakeholder Requirements.

Professional Certifications and Continuing Education Units (CEUs)

Project Management Institute (PMI®)

Professional Development Units (PDUs): 0.5

Certification Program Categories:

Ways of WorkingPower SkillsBusiness Acumen

KnowledgeCity has been reviewed and approved by the PMI® Authorized Training Partner Program. Users can maintain your PMI credentials by earning PDUs from KnowledgeCity qualified courses in Project Management, Business Management, Leadership and many others.