Why requirements don't work

A co-worker recently helped me understand why requirements usually don’t work in practice. Non-technical customers will inevitably come up with very fuzzy requirements and usually only have a vague idea of what they really want. Customers with technical knowledge, on the other hand, have more often than not already thought out a solution and will not even bother to describe the problem they are aiming to solve. So what can be done about it? Of course, we should work closely together with the customer and help them elicitate the necessary requirements. But perhaps there is an even more effective way – to focus on outcome instead of requirements that are bound to change in any case. In the words of agile coach and keynote speaker Kupe Kupersmith:

Focus your attention in areas other than requirements. Instead, focus on outcomes. There are multiple options that can lead to the intended outcome. We need to review those options and make decisions about which option to use to achieve the desired outcome.