How to do well in demand collection

The effect of the early stage requirement collection process will have a direct impact on the final quality of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT. How to collect good demand, the author of this paper gives an effective practical way. What is demand gathering?

Demand collection, which is the process of identifying and understanding the needs and limitations of different categories of users, is an activity that requires a high degree of collaboration and is the first step in bridging the problem and its final solution, so its importance is self-evident. According to the survey shows that more than 50% of the products in the market failure because of the neglect of user needs.

The schematic diagram of the requirements collection in the requirements development activity is shown in Figure 1:

As shown in Figure 1

Why is demand gathering difficult?

The reasons that plague the project team's requirements gathering activities may be as follows:

V demand collectors often only pay attention to the surface problems reflected by users, and can not actively dig into the real needs of users;

V demand collectors to consider the problem when the habit of dry "product-centric", rather than "customer-centric";

V users often do not know what their real needs are, or how to accurately describe their needs-"I am very clear, but can not say";

V does not collect the demand from all possible channels;

V collection requirements are not documented, causing the original information to be lost or distorted, and unable to backtrack;

How to do the demand collection activities?

First, a demand-gathering mechanism needs to be established. Second, the use of a unified demand collection system. Finally, when the requirements are collected, some techniques and methods are adopted.

Establish a demand-gathering mechanism

(1). Identify the job responsibilities of participants in each requirement gathering activity

Depending on the project team's possible sources of demand (the source of the requirements may include: market research, competitor information analysis, standards and agreements, etc.), depending on the project team's actual situation, specify the head of the collection for each source of demand. At the same time, the need information collected through various channels, designated special interface person for summary and audit.

(2). Establish requirements preprocessing process

For the collected needs, in addition to specifying a dedicated interface for the summary and audit, but also to establish a corresponding preprocessing process, in the requirements of the preprocessing, the relevant discussions, decisions can be completed through the "demand for CCB meeting" (requirements of the CCB is: dedicated to the requirements of the discussion and decision control Board).

An example of a preprocessing process for the collected requirements information is shown in Figure 2:

As shown in Figure 2

The project team can refer to the above example, combined with its own actual situation for appropriate tailoring, set up a suitable pretreatment process.

(3). Recurring recurring demand gathering activities

When the product is in the process of development, or has been paid to the user, the team also need to periodically from each source to collect and review all the relevant requirements of the product, so that the market and users can be informed of the product response, to provide input and basis for the next step of work. The project team can choose the appropriate timing according to the specific requirements of their own products, and specify a periodic requirement collection strategy.

Use a unified demand collection system

Many project teams take a tabular approach to documenting the requirements that are collected, rather than submitting them through an electronic process, which can come with problems such as the collection of required information being deferred, project information not being tracked, backtracking, and so on. Therefore, it is necessary for the project team to use a unified demand collection system, as the only, clear access to the requirements of the information to fill in and tracking.

Enterprises can choose to develop their own electronic demand collection system, but also can choose to buy existing products in the market, such as: Telelogic company focal point and so on. If you use your own developed requirements collection system, you can make the system process and enterprise business processes combined, and later maintenance and expansion is also more convenient.

A two-dimensional flowchart example of a requirement collection is shown in Figure 3:

As shown in Figure 3

In the practical work, the demand collection system can also be integrated with the requirement management system and the change control system through certain interfaces to form an integrated enterprise demand management platform, thus providing "perfect demand management solution". An example of a corporate-level integrated demand management platform is shown in Figure 4:

As shown in Figure 4

Adopt certain requirements collection techniques and methods

When the requirements are collected, some techniques and methods should be adopted. Some common requirements collection techniques and methods include: customer interviews, customer exchanges, market research, technical support, high-level visits, competitor analysis, access to media information, demand analysis seminars, etc.

The following selection of techniques and methods, through a number of case studies, for more detailed elaboration.

(1). Customer Interview

Case Study 1: A customer interview

U interview time: choose 45-60 minutes more appropriate.

U interview Location: Choose a more relaxed non working environment.

Interview Questionnaire: Before the interview to design the interview questionnaire beforehand, it should be noted that the questionnaire is just to provide a thought.

• Fill in the form: Do not take the form of direct customer filling.

• Recording: The premise does not allow customers to find or prior to seeking customer consent.

Interview end: Reconfirm, after each interview to optimize the interview outline for the next use.

(2). Customer Exchange

Case Study 2:

Communication before communication: fully communicate with customers, focus on the following points can be considered:

What content is this customer relationship?
Who is the participant?
What are the tendentious views of the main decision-makers?

What is the selling point of a competitor's possible solution? What does the Lord push?

What are we going to live and push? How to avoid our weaknesses?

What questions do customers expect to ask? What should we say?

• The focus of the seminar: In the Exchange, you can choose the following points:

What are the problems customers are facing?

• What are our solutions to the problems facing our customers?

What is our overall plan?

What is the position of today's communication in the overall direction of the company?

In addition, you can design some questions and answer them in your communication. In particular, you should not attack your competitors while communicating, but you can talk about your own success stories and strengths.

After the communication work: After the exchange, also need to complete the following work:

• Analysis of records and troubleshooting;

• Propose strategies for project response;

• Keep track of issues that remain on the exchange until closed;

(3). Symposium On Demand Analysis

The purpose of the thematic analysis of needs was to encourage participants to reach a consensus on demand and to achieve convergence as soon as possible within a relatively short period of time. Requirements Analysis seminars usually invite customer representatives to participate in

Case Study 3

Pre-session Preparation

• Identify all relevant stakeholders and do not leave them behind;

U do a good job in the conference logistics;

U prepare the meeting materials, the first draft of the requirement document, the questionnaire, the related list;

• Find the right moderator: Be good at controlling time, maintain the "rules" of the meeting, set goals and agendas, and be able to mobilize the active participation of all personnel.

Meetings held:

• Make a meeting discipline and announce;

U support people to grasp the atmosphere of the venue, and timely resolution of contradictions;

• Record people to do the Minutes

• Participants use voting to prioritize requirements;

The speaker's time must not exceed a certain length, can not be interrupted;

Work after the meeting

• Classify the views collected at the meeting;

• Record requirements after discussion;

• Determine the next step;

Concluding

Demand collection in customer problems and ultimately to resolve the role of the bridge between, to a certain extent, the quality of demand collection determines the success of the product, so we must strengthen its attention. In order to do this work, we need to establish a routine demand-gathering mechanism and use a unified demand-collection system as an information portal, and because demand gathering is a unified technology-and-approach activity, the choices and techniques will help to achieve a complete and effective demand

Source: http://www.cnblogs.com/neozhu/archive/2008/03/12/1102959.html