How many times in your BA role have you been caught up with stakeholders arguing on which requirements need to be taken up?
How many times have you had long meetings trying to negotiate with stakeholders who claimed that all the requirements were critical?
Most of my BA friends would agree that requirements prioritization is one of the critical tasks for documenting and finalizing requirements. However, it is not devoid of challenges. Each stakeholder may value something different and this can result in conflicts. It may also seem that all requirements are important and need attention.
While we may love to have all the requirements implemented, it is almost impossible to do so with the limited resources of the project. It is at this point that we need to understand the critical requirements that need to be addressed. Prioritizing requirements helps us in this regard.
Prioritization of requirements is critical to any project for the following reasons:
As the popular saying goes we can’t make everyone happy, this is also true with stakeholders. But as business analysts, we have to consider our stakeholders, their needs, and their opinions on the value of a requirement and come up with the best possible outcome.
So, here are a few aspects which you need to consider while prioritizing requirements:
M - Must have
S - Should have
C - Could have
W - Won't have
To conclude, prioritization may be challenging but it is not something you can avoid.
So the next time you prioritize requirements, keep these simple yet effective tips handy!
https://www.adaptiveus.com/blog/business-analysis-process
https://www.adaptiveus.com/blog/requirements-traceability-what-why-and-how
https://www.adaptiveus.com/business-analysis-deliverables/
https://www.adaptiveus.com/requirements-analysis-purpose-tasks-techniques/