The Case Against Requirements Software |
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Why
Most Requirements Software
Don't Work -
and Never Will...
And How You Can Avoid Wrong Software |
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This guide is targeted at organizations considering purchase of requirements software - either right now or in the foreseeable future.
The audience for this guide includes teams such as Product Management, Product Marketing, Engineering, Business Analysis, Program/Project Management, Systems, IT, and related teams responsible for gathering, analyzing and managing requirements for their products or projects... |
Why Organizations Look for
Requirement Software |
| Teams at many organizations start out managing their requirements using tools like: |
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- Word™
- Bug trackers - such as Bugzilla™ or JIRA™
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| Such tools are readily available and most teams already know how to use them. As a result, these tools are popular choices for managing requirements. These tools indeed do a fairly good job in the beginning. However as the teams and/or projects grow, these tools can start displaying several critical shortcomings: |
- Hard to manage requirements as structured data, in a standardized format
- Not possible to create relationships and dependencies between requirements data
- Traceability is practically impossible, resulting in missed/conflicting requirements
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- Hard to collaborate in real-time with internal and external stakeholders
- Versioning is hard to do, resulting in outdated and conflicting requirements
- Change management is time consuming and prone to result in team conflicts
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Adverse Impact on Teams:
These shortcomings often result in: |
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| "Analysts report that as many as 71% of software projects that fail do so because of poor requirements management, making it the single biggest reason for project failure..." - CIO Magazine |
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- Inefficient use of the team's time - resulting in lost productivity
- Project delays
- Project failures, and
- Lost customers
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| As a result, most organizations start looking for dedicated requirements software - i.e. software tools purpose-built for managing requirements. It seems reasonable to expect that requirements management tools can help overcome most, if not all, of the shortcomings listed above. But, teams are often in for a shock! |
The "Great" Marketing Hype
And How to Protect Yourself From It |
| Marketers at many requirement software vendors often make aggressive claims about what their software can do. For example: |
- One vendor claims that their tool reduces product development time by a whopping 80%.
- Another vendor claims that their software "eliminates" delays and "guarantees" on-time completion.
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Claims like these are so unrealistic, we can only conclude that these vendors are hoping you don't find out the real truth until after they cash your check!
Protect Yourself from This Marketing Hype:
Unsuspecting teams can fall prey to this type of marketing hype. This is especially the case when such hype is combined with aggressive selling tactics. How can you protect yourself from this hype?
 One easy way is by remembering this sage advice from Forrester Research:
"Be realistic about problems that a requirements management tool can address..." |
The fact is this. Good requirements management tools can help
you streamline and improve your requirements
management process. And they can help you overcome many of the shortcomings listed above, within reason. However, they cannot change the
world - although many vendors seem to promise
something pretty close!
That is bad enough.
But the worse news is this... |
Most Requirements Software
Just Don't Work... and Never Will. Here's Why |
Most requirements software just don't work - and unlikely to ever work. In fact, a study conducted by Forrester Research shows that a shockingly high percentage of requirement software purchases end up as shelfware - i.e. users simply do not use them. Why is this the case?
We surveyed more than 100 companies - from Fortune 500 companies to startups - who use requirements software. We interviewed nearly two dozen companies who experienced failed implementations. All of them had tried a requirements management tool for a year or longer before concluding it was a failure...
Here are the top-5 reasons given by these companies for their failed implementations: |
- Software was too hard to learn & use daily
- The vendor's promise of "feature packed" software was very enticing prior to purchase. After the purchase however, users found it too bloated - and hard to learn & use every day.
- Software could not be customized to meet team's needs
- Software was either impossible to customize or extremely hard to customize (such as having to buy "consulting packages" from the vendor to customize it).
- No clear objectives established prior to purchase
- The team did not establish clear objectives and goals prior to purchase. As a result, the wrong tool was purchased - and the tool did not work out.
- Software was too expensive or had hidden costs
- Software had a lot of "hidden" costs and as a result was very expensive to maintain and use. This experience was more common at companies purchasing "on premise" software (as opposed to SaaS).
- Demo looked great, but the software just did not work in "real world" use
- The tool looked great during the pre-purchase demo. As a result, the tool was purchased. However, when the team started using it in "real world" projects, the tool could not meet their needs.
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What Are Your Options Then? |
We've outlined the reasons most requirements management tools just don't work. What are your options then? As you can imagine, there are two distinct paths you can take:
Option A: Give up all hope, and go back to status quo
Option B: Arm yourself with a good evaluation process - and avoid wrong Requirement Software
Here's the good news. A small percentage of requirements management tools out there can indeed work for your team. Which specific tool can help your team?
While that depends on your specific needs - you can follow a few best practices while selecting a tool for your team. These best practices can help you avoid the wrong tools and find the right tool. Here's a white paper that can help you do this... |
| White Paper - Based on a Survey of Over 100 Companies |
5 Big Mistakes to Avoid When
Choosing Requirement Software |
 We surveyed more than 100 companies to understand the biggest mistakes they made when selecting requirement software.
We've now put together a white paper based on this survey. This covers:
 The 5 biggest mistakes to avoid
Simple, practical steps you can take to avoid them
This white paper can help you select the right tool for your team - while avoiding these 5 big mistakes... |
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