Some Guidance On Requirements Planning Metrics!

Many people tell me that business project planning is difficult, because you never know what will come on your project path. And this is true of course: Someone has said: Prediction is difficult, and especially the future!

So I get quite often the question to help with providing companies with some guidance on requirements planning metrics.

My first advice is to keep things as simple as possible. What is the span of control you feel comfortable with? Usually this is something between 5 and 7. Then do not overdo this in a project: Stick to 5 to 7 major requirements. And remember: Less is more!

Define a goal, clear to everyone, and define maximum 3 project process requirements, like:

1. We do not want to spend more than ... Euro.
2. We do not want to involve more than ... other business units.
3. We do not want to involve more than ... persons.

The actual numbers vary from person to person, and from specific situation to specific situation. But be sure limit yourself, and by doing this protect yourself.

Inevitable, there comes a moment you realize that things got worse than you by all means tried to avoid. This is normal human behavior, and this a much better situation than get unexpected surprises . It is also a very good moment to go back to the basics:

• What really makes a difference in what we want to achieve?
• What do we need now?
• What are the quantitative and qualitative benefits?
• What can wait until to be decided on later?
• What are logical increments, making it possible to harvest important benefits earlier?

Furthermore, try to balance between greenfield and migration of the existing situation. Both have their merits and drawbacks.

I wish the best luck with your business projects. Let me know how it goes, and how I can help you with more requirements planning guidance.