3.01 vocabulary PM

Delphi technique

- A selected group of experts answers questionnaires and provides feedback regarding the responses from each round of requirements gathering. The responses are only available to the facilitator to maintain anonymity.

Requirements documentation

- Describes the collection of requirements from various stakeholders. Requirements may start out at a high level and become progressively more detailed as more is known. The requirements document may range from a simple document listing all the requirements categorized by stakeholder and priority, to more elaborate forms containing executive summary, detailed descriptions, and attachments.

Brainstorming

A technique used to generate and collect multiple ideas related to project and product requirements.

Focus groups

Bring together prequalified stakeholders and subject matter experts to learn about their expectations and attitudes about a proposed product, service, or result. A trained moderator guides the group through an interactive discussion.

Requirements Management Plan

Documents how requirements will be analyzed, documented, and managed throughout the project.

Unanimity

Everyone agrees on a single course of action.

Interviews

Formal or informal approach to discover information from stakeholders by talking to them directly. It is typically performed by asking prepared and spontaneous questions and recording the responses. Interviews are often conducted "one-on- one," but may involve multiple interviewers and/or multiple interviewees.

Idea/mind mapping

Ideas created through individual brainstorming are consolidated into a single map to reflect commonality and differences in understanding, and generate new ideas.

Prototypes

Is a method of obtaining early feedback on requirements by providing a working model of the expected product before actually building it. Since prototypes are tangible, it allows stakeholders to experiment with a model of their final product rather than only discussion abstract representations of their requirements.

Requirements Traceability Matrix

Is a table the links requirements to their origin and traces them throughout the project life cycle. The implementation of a requirements traceability matrix helps ensure that each requirements add business value by linking it to the business and project objectives. It also helps trace requirements back to the stakeholders who originated them so they can be consulted if there are any changes.

Dictatorship

On individual makes the decision for the group.

Observations

Provide a direct way of viewing individuals in their environment and how they perform their jobs or task and carry out processes. Great for understanding how end users interact with a product or situation.

Facilitated workshops

Requirements workshops are focused sessions that bring key cross-functional stakeholders together to define product requirements. Stakeholders work together to identify their requirements and work through any confliction requirements.

Majority

Support from more than 50% of the members of the group.

Plurality

The largest block in a group decides even if a majority is not achieved.

Affinity diagram

This technique allows large numbers of ideas to be sorted into groups for review and analysis.

Nominal group technique

This technique enhances brainstorming with a voting process used to rank the most useful ideas for further brainstorming or for prioritization..

Questionnaires and Surveys

Written sets of questions designed to quickly accumulate information from a wide number of respondents.