ADROIT - Prioritized Requirements

PRIORITIZING REQUIREMENTS

Requirements are prioritized so that iterations can be planned. Usually we divide the requirements in the following groups.

1. Must-have 2. Should-have 3. Could-have 4. Good-to-have

Risk vs Value

This gradation helps to have a dialogue with the customer and improve the understanding of the requirements. It also allows us to specify a "features buffer" to identify features that can be treated as optional in case of an overrun.

We can prioritize by looking at the value that a requirement adds vs risk involved in delivering that requirement. As seen in the diagram above we should address the "high value high risk" requirements first and "low value low risk" in the end. We should avoid "low value high risk" requirements.

One more way of prioritizing requirements used by the Japanese is the Kano Model. Here the requirements are grouped into three groups.

Must-have : Such as validation or security which have limited potential to add value once they are included - meaning more validation or more security after a certain point does not add proportionate value.
Linear: This group consist of features such as performance which can be improved and they will proportionately add value.
The exciters have meaning only after a certain point where the must-have requirements and linear requirements are taken care of. But after this point these exciters such as UI goodies like Ajax result in disproportionately high value or customer delight.

It helps to address the Must-haves first and the exciters in the end.