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Requirements Gathering

Overview

12 PDUs

Many projects get under way with a sparse, high-level list of requirements. And then—somewhere halfway through the project—someone realizes there is something we didn’t know but should have. Suddenly the project is derailed. Tasks are added to the project, and the schedule slips behind. Gathering requirements as an up-front activity can go only so far. This two-day course provides strategies for effective scope management.

The most successful projects have replaced the requirement-gathering activity with four core activities: form a hypothesis, test the hypotheses, select the best solution and bullet-proof the solution. This strategy prevents us from having to know all the answers up front. Refining the solution is often what leads to successfully achieving all the project’s desired outcomes.

Effective scope management is the art of preventing unnecessary change to the scope of a project and managing the changes that are approved. This process may seem counterintuitive when our schedule is already aggressive, but imagine how much time we can save because our solution doesn’t require major adjustments along the way and because everyone is on the same page about the Why and the What.

Including validation points throughout a project, instead of a single requirement-gathering activity up front, ensures all other activities on the schedule go more smoothly. In a strange quirk of project management reality, we end up saving time by spending time. Most importantly, we end up with a solution that uses real requirements to create satisfied stakeholders.

No prerequisites

This course can provide up to 12 PDUs / contact hours towards attaining or maintaining the Project Management Professional (PMP)® designation. Participants must submit the request to PMI via the Continuing Certification Requirements System (CCRS).

Professional Development Units are allocated according to the number of training hours completed by the student and may be granted by increments of 0.25 PDU for each 15 minutes of training. A participation certificate will be given to students who attend a minimum of 75% of the course.

Topics

• 10 rules for successful requirement gathering
• Planning scope management
• Drafting a statement of requirements
• Common requirement-gathering mistakes and how to fix them
• Managing stakeholder involvement
• Requirement mapping and analysis
• Requirement management
• Creating a robust scope
• Breaking scope down into deliverables and to-do list (activities)
• Obtaining a baseline or agreed-upon scope
• Managing changes in scope
• Delayed requirements
• Scope creep
• Collecting requirements from executives
• Handling work verification, validations and acceptance

Audience

• Individuals involved in establishing project requirements or scope; business analysts, project managers, function managers and subject matter experts involved in estimating the work required

Duration

Cost

• $1095 (plus tax)

Featured Instructor

Francine Durivage is a bilingual Performance Enhancement Specialist with over 20 years of experience. She has worked internationally helping organizations and governments redefine and refine their high impact objectives and delivery. Francine holds a MPM (Master of Project Management), an MCOD (Master Certificate in Organizational Development) and a B.A. in Psychology. Her energy and effective leadership enable her to strategically address the needs of today's project manager, sponsor and team members in a practical and engaging way.

Sessions