Estimates and Requirements

This week the tip of the week at http://bit.ly/ciyf0W is about being prepared for the expected and unexpected issues that can impact the project. One of these expected issues is a missed requirement. This happens frequently on IT projects. Software applications can be fairly complex so it is likely one or more requirements may be missed in the original requirements gathering phase. What generally happens with these is that the requirement is added and the project schedule and budget are impacted. A better way to handle this is if you are prepared for it. After the initial requirements are done go back to the estimate and assign a value to each requirement. This serves two purposes. First it gives you a tool to validate and refine the estimates. Second it now gives you a tool for the case of adding a missed requirement. When the requirement is identified estimate what it costs. Now you can go back and see what the real impact to the budget and schedule is. Then the decision could be what requirements can be dropped to account for the new one or maybe the new one can fit into the contingency funds.