How to Build Trust for Better Business-Requirements Gathering

By Elizabeth Larson, PMP, and Richard Larson, PMP

April 25, 2005 12:00 PM ET

Recommended

(4)

Digg

Twitter

Share/Email

Computerworld - One of the most difficult phases in project management is gathering business requirements from stakeholders. Requirements are often vague because it is difficult for customers to articulate their needs before they see the end product. When business customers and the project team have a relationship built on trust, they can work together more quickly to produce a product of value to the organization. But how do you go about building trust?
Before the formal requirements-gathering process begins, it is important to discuss the business context of the project with the sponsor. Requirements need to be gathered and managed in relation to the organization's overall vision and strategic direction. They must link to business goals and objectives. When requirements lack this linkage, which we call upwards traceability, there is a high likelihood that customers will request features and functions that not only are out of scope, but also promote their own agendas.
In addition to meeting business objectives, requirements should also solve business problems. One of the most common complaints from business analysts and project managers who gather requirements is that their customers bring them solutions and neglect the underlying problem. Often, the result is a solution that goes unused. Here are some questions to ask to uncover this business problem:

What is the business pain?

What is currently limiting you?

How do you describe your need or problem?

How did you first realize status quo wasn't good enough?

What opportunity arose?

What are you trying to solve?

Initial meetings with the sponsor to discuss the business and project vision, as well as the business problems, can be a helpful way to establish rapport and begin to build trust. Focusing on the business need and vision demonstrates business acumen, which in turn builds respect and leads to trust.

Techniques for Building Trust
There are a variety of techniques that are typically used in requirements elicitation. One of the most common is the facilitated session, in which a facilitator enables key stakeholders to articulate their requirements in a formal meeting. This approach has many advantages, including using the synergy of the group to build relationships and trust.
Another common technique is the one-on-one interview. This technique is a way for business analysts and project managers to meet individually with stakeholders. Through these individual meetings, trust can be built in several ways:
Assess commitment
Some stakeholders don't like to make decisions or agree to decisions in meetings. One-on-one meetings provide a safer venue to discuss real needs behind the stated -- and unstated -- needs.
Address individual concerns
Some people are more inclined to reveal their true concerns about the project and the other project stakeholders in one-on-one interviews, rather than in large groups. When elicitation is limited to facilitated sessions, these concerns go largely unaddressed.
Address negative behavior

Recommend Digg Twitter ShareThis

Email Print Send Feedback Reprints

Jump to comments

IT Management

Additional Resources

WHITE PAPER

Do You Know the 7 Steps to Successful Data Migration?

Approximately 60 percent of data migration projects overrun time or budget, while some fail completely. Download this white paper, "Enhancing Your Chance for Successful Data Migration," to learn the critical steps you need to take to execute a data migration project with minimum cost and risk to your business.

WHITE PAPER

Total Cost of Ownership of Server Computing Vs. PCs

Read the Gartner research note to learn why the TCO of a server-based computing deployment used to deliver all applications to users is around 50% lower than that of an unmanaged desktop deployment.

WHITE PAPER

IDC White Paper: Linux in a Global Recession

Economic downturns have a tendency to accelerate emerging technologies, boost the adoption of effective solutions, and punish solutions that are not cost competitive or that are out of synch with industry trends. This IDC White Paper presents the results of an IDC survey of 330 companies in Western Europe, Asia/Pacific and the Americas that measures the receptiveness to Linux and takes into consideration changing views driven by the disruptive economic environment that businesses face today.

White Papers & Webcasts

Informatica 9 Launch: Transform your Business. Transform your world.

LIVE Nov 10, 2009 12:00 PM ET

Architecting Business Intelligence Applications for Change: The Open Solution

LIVE Nov 12, 2009 02:00 PM ET

Faster, Cheaper and Easier to Maintain
Can you afford not to upgrade your servers to today's advanced, energy-efficient technologies?

Strategies for Driving Down IT Support Costs with Lite ITIL Practices
View this now!

Infonetics: WAN Optimization Appliance Market Highlights 1 Q09
Vendor market share positions shuffled once again in 1Q09, learn more now!

Managing Secure File Transfer to Save Time, Money and IT Resources
Learn how companies are using innovative technology to overcome these challenges and improve user productivity by offloading e-mail attachments and replacing FTP with...

Improving Customer Retention and Satisfaction
Download this White Paper Now!

Efficient Root-cause Analysis in the face of Datacenter Complexity
Isolating Virtualization and n-Tier Application Issues, Measuring Success, Assessing Business Impact, and Enabling Technologies

Supporting Employees Anytime, Anywhere
Download this White Paper Now!

Enterprise Data Governance: Bridging the Business-IT Gap
Register for this live webcast today!

People + Processes + Technology: Creating a Winning Formula for Customer Support
Download Now!

Usability Is Everything
Download this short video! Provided by Workday.

All White Papers | All Webcasts