38
votes
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What are the definitions and differences between: Theme, Epic, Feature, User Story and Task?
Each organization and author has a different definition for these terms.
In this article, Mike Cohn provides his definition of User Stories, Epics and Themes:
A user story is simply something a ...
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21
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should developers have a say in functional requirements
I fail to see how you can carry out requirements engineering activities effectively without the involvement of developers.
A business analyst or product manager may be very good at working with ...
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20
votes
What techniques can identify missing requirements?
I'm not entirely sure if that is still "project management", but what has helped me in my developer role is to actually take a day and do the work that my program is supposed to improve.
...
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13
votes
Should you export data to Excel and Word?
Exporting to Excel is a solution, not a requirement. You need to go back to the owners and get them to detail their functional requirements for the data. Once done, then hand it over to the ...
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12
votes
should developers have a say in functional requirements
Everyone in a development team should take responsibility for and be involved in requirements gathering to some extent, otherwise you have barriers to effective teamwork.
"The best architectures, ...
- 6,061
12
votes
Lately discovered requirements in Scrum
If a requirement is discovered in the middle of a project or even later, then the cost of implementation of this requirement can be very high.
In this statement you are saying that the cost of change ...
- 19k
11
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between requirement and scope?
I respectfully disagree with @DavidEspina. I don't think his answer is fundamentally wrong, but it doesn't match my answer.
During project initiation (or in some contract work, prior to project ...
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10
votes
Should you export data to Excel and Word?
As a principle, whether having an Excel is "worth" (business-wise) or not isn't up to the development team to decide. They have to be able to tell whether it's feasible, and objectively tell what are ...
- 1,011
10
votes
Is it possible to be agile with a highly technical project?
Everything in your question suggests that you are exploring a new problem, not simply creating something you already know exactly how to build. Because waterfall asks you to create your design ...
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10
votes
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What techniques can identify missing requirements?
Software is never finished, merely abandoned.
Don't remember who said this first, but it's true. After you spend some time in the industry, you inevitably reach the same conclusion. And based on this, ...
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9
votes
What is the difference between requirement and scope?
Product Specifications vs. Project Scope
One assumes that you're not looking for dictionary definitions. We have Merriam-Webster and Wikipedia for that. For practical differences, I would suggest the ...
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9
votes
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May I not use the users stories in Scrum?
Of course you may! Scrum doesn't prescribe what concrete representation of requirements you should use. There is no such term as "user story" in Scrum Guide at all. Scrum Guide operate "Product ...
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9
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Which scrum actors should attend a requirements gathering session
Never... :)
By leaving the scrum team out of the conversation, you are just moving back into the pitfalls of waterfall requirements. When features are written in a vacuum, then you either end up with ...
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8
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How to keep track of all the goals of a large project?
I would recommend to apply a Scrum project approach here.
You should define your minimum viable product.
You create a larger backlog which contains all project ideas (or user stories).
You organise ...
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8
votes
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Making backlog items independent - how that can be achieved?
You cannot totally eliminate dependencies. Some story will depend on another, some feature will need another feature to be built first, some new feature will be desired only after you see and interact ...
- 14.5k
8
votes
should developers have a say in functional requirements
Developer here. I have seen projects fail because a functional requirement was impossible to implement. I'll tell you a tale where I was involved.
We were working with a piece of hardware that allowed ...
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7
votes
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Security Requirements and User Stories
In Scrum (where User Stories also exist as part of Product Backlog), it is common to see Security, Availability, Speed of response and other non-functional requirements as part of definition of "Done"....
- 124
7
votes
How to ensure developers don't sneak in code not part of requirements?
There is a lot you can do that ensures that the code does what it's supposed to do, but aside from trusting the people developing it (including their reviewers) there is basically no way to make sure ...
- 8,348
7
votes
Accepted
SAFe, are developers required to gather their own requirements?
TL;DR
Your company has not implemented SAFe; they have implemented Buzzword Management™. In this case, the interplay between roles has been applied incorrectly. Core responsibility for requirements ...
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6
votes
Accepted
What practices would allow an Agile team to work effectively when every developer is allowed to gather requirements from the business customers?
TL;DR
I think the question of "requirements gathering" is based on a misunderstanding of the agile principles involved, and especially of how user stories are created and how the details of a story ...
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6
votes
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How to record client requirements?
Agile provides 3 opportunities to catch this error prior to production
The dependency should have been captured in the acceptance criteria: When story B is written, it should have been linked back to ...
6
votes
How do I deal with a potentially difficult client on a web project?
With respect to @mamoo answer:
For sure, the best is to clarify the requirements. Due to the fact that you don't have access to the customer, the internal stakeholder should be your first choice.
...
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6
votes
Accepted
How to keep track of all the goals of a large project?
Mathias' answer is solid. I personally would not go to a full Scrum for this, based on it being a single person project and work in progress is the more critical thing going on here. So I'd stick with ...
- 12.4k
6
votes
Project Objectives vs Stakeholder Needs
Project Objectives are typically higher level than individual Stakeholder Requirements. They usually come first, created up-front in the Project Initiation phase before you've delved in to individual ...
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6
votes
How to ensure developers don't sneak in code not part of requirements?
Using a Behaviour Driven Development (BDD) or Acceptance Test Driven Development (ATDD) approach means that the code is self documenting. So introducing functionality beyond the original requirements ...
- 19k
6
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Could the Product Owner be a user of a user story in Scrum?
Two things come to mind.
First, if you can't trace the need to a stakeholder impacted by the system, is it actually a requirement? Unnecessary features and gold-plating is a waste, in the Lean sense. ...
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6
votes
Accepted
Could the Product Owner be a user of a user story in Scrum?
The only time the Product Owner would be named in a user story is if you are building a product that is designed for Product Owners.
I need to write some requirements affecting directly to the ...
- 19k
6
votes
Lately discovered requirements in Scrum
Prioritisation, continuous delivery and review is the way to control delivery risk for any software development, not just when using Scrum. I can't agree with the first sentence of your question ...
- 6,061
6
votes
Lately discovered requirements in Scrum
You say:
If a requirement is discovered in the middle of a project or even later, then the cost of implementation of this requirement can be very high.
This can be true or can be false. It depends ...
- 14.5k
5
votes
How do I deal with a potentially difficult client on a web project?
If you're really stuck I'd move the responsibility towards your managers: validate the home page with them, write down whatever requirement is necessary and make it approved by one of your senior. If ...
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