How do you monitor requirement status and progress?

Tracking requirement status and progress means ensuring everyone knows what's needed and how things are going. Clear requirements and tools like Jira help us stay organized, while regular meetings keep us updated on any changes or challenges. Metrics like completeness and traceability guide our progress, and we're always looking to improve our process based on what we learn. This way, we ensure we're meeting everyone's needs throughout the project.

In my experience, writing user stories take more than just ID, Name, Priority, Source, Owner, Version, Status, & Acceptance Criteria. Those are for sure required, however, technical teams also want to understand further about the business case and/or process models.

Requirement attributes are pieces of information that describe each requirement, such as priority, source, owner, status, and verification method1. By tracking and updating these attributes, you can see the current state and progress of each requirement throughout the project lifecycle.

It is key to manage the tracking process of any requirement, this can be from simply updates on a tracking tool or on a spreadsheet, with clear updates, inclusive of dates, statuses and next steps. This provides an oversight of progress and helps to give visibility to the relevant stakeholders alike.

In a particular instance at work, where we were involved in a large-scale software development project, defining and documenting requirement attributes proved instrumental. By assigning unique IDs to each requirement, specifying its source and owner, determining its priority and version, and outlining acceptance criteria, we created a structured and organized framework for handling a vast number of requirements. This not only facilitated efficient management but also provided a clear audit trail, enabling easy tracking and reporting on the status and evolution of each requirement.

In development team has agile testing, I still wonder if we still need RTM. Still, I find this table pretty useful for QA/QC to trace back what has changed over time. However, use cases / test cases are mixed with user stories in this kind of document format / template, then it makes developers confused even more compared to acceptance criteria.

A particularly beneficial approach I've discovered is the use of dedicated requirements management tools for creating and maintaining RTMs. These tools offer features such as automated traceability, real-time collaboration, and reporting functionalities, significantly enhancing the effectiveness of managing complex projects. However, for smaller projects or organizations with limited resources, a spreadsheet or document can serve as a practical alternative, providing a structured way to establish and maintain traceability links.

After using Excel for so long for my RTM, I finally moved off my comfort zone to adopt a more collaborative way to ensure all artefacts can be documented and stored using MS. Sharepoint Lists. If you have access to MS 365 I recommend using this as it gives you the benefit of a centralised repository, it integrates well with other tools, it is easily customisable, and has the well-loved feature of version controlling. I find that it promotes transparency and visibility across the project team, you can build automation into this and will help you monitor requirements statuses and progress seamlessly.

Requirement traceability is the ability to link requirements to other related elements, such as design, code, test cases, and stakeholders2. By creating and maintaining traceability matrices, you can track the relationships and dependencies among requirements and ensure that they are aligned with the project objectives and scope.

Step of requirements verification allows to do a check and determine that the requirements are ready for validation. According to BABOK there are 9 requirements and design quality characteristics (atomic, complete, consistent, concise, feasible, unambiguous, testable, prioritized, understandable). Great approach to do a verification process easier is using the checklists, so that the key aspects of quality for particular context will not be missed. Requirements validation is the process of ensuring that stakeholder solution and transition requirements align to the business requirements. Both req-s verification and validation are ongoing processes and once new req-s are elicited, specified and modelled they to be verified and validated.

t's widely acknowledged that these techniques are essential for meeting specified standards and criteria (verification) and aligning requirements with stakeholders' needs and expectations (validation). In a specific instance at work, where we were developing a software solution, implementing both verification and validation techniques became integral to the success of the project. Verification activities ensured that our requirements adhered to industry standards and internal criteria. Simultaneously, validation activities allowed us to confirm that the requirements truly met the expectations and needs of our stakeholders.

A particularly beneficial approach I've discovered is tailoring communication methods based on the audience, purpose, and frequency. Different stakeholders may require varying levels of detail or specific formats of communication. For example, detailed reports or meetings with technical teams may be necessary for conveying intricate requirement changes, while executive-level stakeholders might prefer high-level dashboards or presentations.

The text highlights the importance of having a clear and agreed-upon process for managing requirement changes and issues. Based on my experiences, establishing roles, responsibilities, criteria, and methods for evaluating and approving changes and issues is crucial for maintaining the relevance and accuracy of requirements. This systematic approach contributes to effective project management, ensuring that the project team and stakeholders are well-informed and able to adapt to changing circumstances while keeping the project on track.

Adopting agile mindset means that we will embrace changes in iterative development. This also happens with requirements evolution. In order to monitor requirements status & progress, yes, defining roles & responsibilities is a must. Next priority should focus on transparent communications for better adaptive planning.

In my view it is important to have an oversight and manage the status process continuously, ensuring that the relevant delivery items have the most up to date information. This will help and encourage progress and reduce risks and delays with the appropriate teams delivering to the task as per scheduled plan.

Requirement metrics are quantitative measures that indicate the quality and performance of the requirements, such as completeness, consistency, test coverage, defect rate, and change rate. By collecting and analyzing these metrics, you can evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the requirements process and identify areas for improvement. Requirement reviews are formal or informal sessions where the requirements are inspected and validated by the stakeholders, analysts, developers, testers, and other relevant parties. By conducting regular and timely reviews, you can ensure that the requirements are clear, correct, feasible, and acceptable, and that any issues or changes are addressed promptly.