The regular failure of information technology (IT) projects is a fertile source of material for comedians (and executive management). The common reply is simply that more project management would solve the problem, but this is wearing a bit thin after being used for the past 20 years or so. Others, such as Partridge [1], claim that failures are the inevitable result of the complexity of IT systems and the inherent inability of humans to manage this complexity.

While supporting the first of these claims, the author of this book proposes that a poor definition of requirements (in other words, what a project is to deliver) is also a major contributor. The book details a useful taxonomy for the successful specification, classification, and documentation of project functional requirements. The author asserts that the term “non-functional requirements” is merely an excuse for a lack of rigor in requirements analysis.

First up is an introduction to the concept of requirements management, as well as a discussion of the various types of requirements and their classifications. This is followed by a description of useful techniques for interviewing clients and documenting requirements.

The author next presents a discussion of the analysis, summarization, and documentation of the information gathered, including quality assurance aspects of these processes. The emphasis is on the importance of including requirements management in the planning stages of a project. This appears in the middle of the book, although perhaps it would have been better placed toward the beginning. As requirements seldom remain static, the book includes a chapter devoted to managing inevitable changes in requirements throughout the life of a project. This chapter also describes techniques for tracking and measuring requirements to ensure they are adequately addressed.

Another chapter details tools and techniques to assist in these various tasks, along with recent best practices in the area. The author discusses how requirements analysis can be integrated into project management methodologies such as agile, Kanban, and Crystal. The appendices provide guidelines and examples for document preparation, and a description of Tom Gilb’s planning language and modeling notation (Planguage). There is a good index and a thorough table of contents.

The concept of requirements gathering and project specification is not new. However, it has matured, moving out of the purely technical realm of Backus-Naur descriptions that appear in classics such as Brooks [2] and into a full-fledged component of project management. Although the author designed the book to be a useful textbook for students, it should also be useful for project managers who need to understand that quality results don’t just happen; they must be designed, and a successful design is built on a thorough and detailed analysis of requirements and specifications.

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