Requirements Engineering

Requirements Problems & Errors

Review: What Are Requirements?*

A condition or capability needed by a user
or customer to solve a problem or achieve
an objective.
A condition or capability that must be met
by a system or BIM to satisfy a need or
other formally imposed document.
A document representation of a condition
or capability.

* Based on IEEE Standard Terminology

RED SUN Inc.

Review: Requirements Defects

Requirements defects are poorly defined
requirements, errors in requirements caused
by incorrect, incomplete, missing, or
conflicting requirements.
Defective requirements may result in:
Project failures
Expensive rework
Cost overruns
Poor quality
Late delivery
Dissatisfied customers
Demoralized developers
RED SUN Inc.

Why Are Requirements Important?

Requirements

$X1

Architect

Relative cost factor to find and fix defects

at each phase of the BIM development.

$X2

Design

$X5

Model

$X20

Test

$X50

Maintenance $X100
* Based on research of Dr. Barry Boehm, Univ. Southern California

RED SUN Inc.

Requirements Defects
Requirements defects cost:
100-200 times to correct after release. (Barry Boehm)
10-100 times to correct after release. (Steve McConnell)

More than 60% of all customer-reported defects

were the direct result of missing, conflicting,
misunderstood, or misinterpreted requirements
(Boehm, 1975).
Reworking requirements defects on most BIM
projects cost:
40-50% of the effort (Capers Jones)
80% of the effort (Karl Wiegers)

RED SUN Inc.

Why?
Inability of BIM Engineers to write good
requirement specifications.
Desire to short-cut requirements activity
because engineers believe that major effort is
in design and implementation (Model, Test).
Lack of understanding of the business
processes and stakeholders needs.
Failure to transform stakeholders needs into
business requirements.
Requirements Engineering did not start early
enough.
RED SUN Inc.

Some Reasons
Most requirements activities are focused
mainly on functionality.
Insufficient skills to obtain, analyze, and
specify requirements at the technical level.
Lack of training on how to allocate business
functions to BIM.
Lack of cooperation by stakeholders to
verify that requirements are correct.
Processes & tools are not used early enough
to manage changes and traceability.
RED SUN Inc.

Problems With Life-Cycle -1

Waterfall Life Cycle
Stakeholders often did not know
what the requirements are and
even if they did, they are almost
certain to change.

Requirements

Design

Model

Test

What happens if requirements are wrong?

RED SUN Inc.

Integrate

Problems With Life-Cycle -2

(Rapid) Prototyping Life Cycle

Requirements

Design
Prototype

Documented
Requirements

Design

Model
Prototype

Test
Prototype

Model

Test

Integrate

Several informal iterations conducted

to help determine requirements
before actual implementation.
Time consuming.

RED SUN Inc.

Problems With Life-Cycle -3

Incremental Development Life Cycle
Release 1

Requirements

Design

Model

Test

Integrate

Maintenance

Release 2

Design

Model

Test

Integrate

Maintenance

Release 3

Design

Model

Test

Integrate

Maintenance

Requirements continue to be analyzed then allocated to a series of

incremental releases - No guarantee that requirements will not change.

RED SUN Inc.

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Why Requirements Matter?

Requirements are important because if
you dont know what you want, or dont
communicate what you want, you reduce
the chance of getting what you want.
Designing without requirements is no
more than a solution looking for a problem
to solve.
More than 60% of all customer reported
defects were the direct result of missing,
conflicting, misunderstood, or
misinterpreted requirements.
RED SUN Inc.

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Why Are Requirements Important?

Many projects are late with fewer functions
than promised.
Often inability to deliver what was
promised is directly related to poorly
written requirements.
Accurate estimates and schedules can only
be developed from complete, concise, and
unambiguous requirements.

RED SUN Inc.

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Why Are Requirements Difficult?

Most requirements are vague and
imprecise.
Few people know how to write good
requirements.
Many BIM people do not separate
requirements (What) from design (How).
How many people can write good
requirements in your company?
How many BIM people think writing
requirements is their job?
RED SUN Inc.

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Common Problems
Errors of Omission
Errors of Commission
Errors of Clarity
Errors of Understanding

RED SUN Inc.

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Errors of Omission
Important information is not stated:
What was stated:

This BIM shall provide cost estimates.

What was intended:

This BIM shall predict size for specifications, source

Model, and user manuals; BIM staffing for technical
employees and management; BIM schedules from
requirements through delivery, and BIM cost
estimates for all BIM development activities.

Many customers assumed that developers

understood what they mean by cost
estimates.
RED SUN Inc.

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Errors of Commission
Wrong information or contradiction or
both:
Requirement #1:
Proof of valid insurance must be provided
before issuing a vehicle registration.

Requirement #2:
Vehicle registration information was required
before issuing a proof of insurance certificate.
Is this a chicken or the egg problem?

RED SUN Inc.

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Errors of Clarity
Requirements stated in a way that leads to
confusion:
What was written:

Commanded pre-task calibration updates offset

coefficients only for the corresponding calibration
table.

What was intended:

Commanded pre-task calibration updates only the

offset coefficients for the corresponding calibration
table.

RED SUN Inc.

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Errors of Understanding
Customer needs a process that helps get the
word out of the document, and into developers
heads.
Fundamental problem in writing requirements
is ambiguity.
Ambiguity leads to errors of understanding.
People internalize requirements, apply their
own definitions of words and create their own
vision.
Organizations need processes and tools to help
ensure that everyones vision is the same.

RED SUN Inc.

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Imprecise Terminology
How many examples of imprecise
terminology can you find in these
requirements:
The ATM shall respond quickly and in a userfriendly manner to any user action, and print a
TR when the transaction is completed.

RED SUN Inc.

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Imprecise Terminology
How many examples of imprecise
terminology can you find in these
requirements:
The ATM shall respond quickly and in a userfriendly manner to any user action, and print a
TR when the transaction is completed.

RED SUN Inc.

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Other Examples
If the computer is next to the lamp, then
move it.
Move what? Computer or the lamp?

The system shall perform the calculation

in the usual way.
What is the usual way?

The system must perform correctly.

What is perform? What is correct?

RED SUN Inc.

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Communication
How many times have you talked to the
customer during the requirements phase?
Do you know who your customers are?
Do you know who your stakeholders are?
Do you know how to ask questions?
Do you know how to clarify requirements?
How often should you communicate?

RED SUN Inc.

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Who Will Read The Requirements?

Write requirements with a targeted
audience in mind.
Who will read your requirements?
Project Manager
Developers
Users
Quality people
Testing people
Manager

You should ask your audience to identify

the kinds of information they need to do
their job.

RED SUN Inc.

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Good Requirements
How much time and cost could have
been saved simply by doing a better
job on the requirements?

RED SUN Inc.

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BIM Engineer
BIM Engineers must operate at two
levels:
1) The Technical/Business level:
Focus on problem-solving, rational,
explicit.
2) The Affective/Relationship level:
Focus on the feeling, interpersonal,
implicit.

RED SUN Inc.

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Questions to Ask
Is a relationship with the stakeholder part
of the product or service?
What would make the stakeholders change
their mind?
Is your project team the only one who can
provide the product or service?
How do different answers change the way
we deal with our stakeholders?

RED SUN Inc.

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Its a Relationship
Stakeholders relationship is essential.
Stakeholders satisfaction is key to business
success.
Stakeholders always have many choices.
BIM Engineers &
stakeholders need to
cross the gap which separates them.
For many stakeholders, quality is measured
by the relationship.

RED SUN Inc.

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Gap Analyses

What They Think

is Important

GAP

What They Say

GAP

RED SUN Inc.

What You Think is

Important

What they're
really doing

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Knowing Your Stakeholders

How to Get from Here to There

What's Really
Important

What they're
really doing

What They Say

RED SUN Inc.

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Requirements Issues - 1
1) Objective requirements:
Information about a business process,
situations that are factual, objective.
2) Personal requirements:
Information that are facts but is actually
how an individual uses them and the
culture that evolves around them.

Focusing only on objective requirements, but

failing to take into consideration how users use
them will not result in an effective problemsolving effort.
68% of requirement changes are personal requirements.
RED SUN Inc.

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Requirements Issues - 2
Getting requirements from an appointed
person or a manager may not be enough.
Requirements gathering must involve all
stakeholders.
People will support you when they get an
opportunity to influence the decisions that
have direct impact upon their work.
If they believe that they can exert no
control, the common tendencies are to
become cautious or defensive, to play it
safe, to withhold information, to protect
themselves.
RED SUN Inc.

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You Are Successful When You

1. Have a partnership with stakeholders.
2. Receive support from stakeholders.
3. Increase your leverage with
stakeholders.
4. Establish more trusting relationships with
stakeholders.
5. Avoid no-win situations.
6. Develop internal commitment with your
stakeholders.

RED SUN Inc.

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You Are More Successful When You

Know more about the entire business rather
than just a part.
Engage early in the business process.
Understand the business issues.
Understand the business needs.
Know all stakeholders.
Pro-actively engage the stakeholders in
your requirements activity.

RED SUN Inc.

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To Engage Early
Identify all stakeholders.
Gather input from them to ensure that all
viewpoints a re represented.
Know their business goals and objectives.
Know their needs.
Most stakeholders usually do not know what
the solution is. They only know there's a
problem.
You need to know their problem so you can
come up with a solution.

RED SUN Inc.

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Ask Yourself
What problems are they encountering?
What outcomes are they expecting?
What kind of proposal is this?
Who owns the system after it is
completed?
Document your assumptions, then verify
them with stakeholders.

RED SUN Inc.

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Ask for Outcomes

Ask for
outcomes:

Ask not for

solutions:
What do you
want?

What do you want our products

to do for you?

RED SUN Inc.

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Summary
How many times have you talked to the
stakeholders during the requirements
phase?
Do you know who your stakeholders are?
Do you know how to ask questions?
Do you know how to clarify a
requirements?
How often should you communicate?
Do you understand the stakeholders
business?

RED SUN Inc.

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Questions & Answers

RED SUN Inc.

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