How to Write Good Requirements

It’s Monday, I assume you start working on a new/existing project or you want to complete a Salesforce Superbadge challenge. Before you do that you need a list of all the requirements to complete it, right?

You are at the right place, as the aim here is to present a high-level approach towards writing requirements that will help you achieve the end-goal.

Before outlining “How to write your project requirements?” it is important to note that those might vary depending on a few factors:

• Project type
• Project Size
• Industry

Writing project requirements can be narrowed down into 3 core stages:

• Pre-Game
• Gameday
• After game

Pre-game

Before the game day, there is a checklist of items you should run through to ensure that you are fully prepared.

• Review the project scope and have a clear understanding of the initial reasons why this project came about.
• Study the company and/or project resources, so you can be prepared to chat in their own lingo.
  • Use the companies website, white papers, LinkedIn and any other sources you find.
• Check who is attending the meeting beforehand.
• Review previous projects for similar use cases related to the one you are going to start. Previous experience means a lot in the project management world. 
• Prepare a set of questions
  Use them as a guideline, not as examination questions
• Build an agenda and send it across prior to the meeting.
  • The agenda should respect a logical order such as a process or department. E.g…
    • Project Sponsor – Understanding the project goals
    • Users – Understand the process and the current pains they have
    • IT – Discuss Integrations and sources of data
    • CEO – Understand relevant KPI’s and the company goals
    • Project Sponsor – Review

Make sure you have a logical agenda

Game Day

The day has finally arrived! Relax and enjoy the day, you have done the hard work of preparing, now it’s time to dive into business logic. Always keep the following in mind:

• Be punctual
• Always be looking to build a relationship with the stakeholders. People trust people that they can relate to.
• Show your value, you are the specialist and you should lead the conversation.
• Stick to a plan, always try and stick with your plan and agenda to ensure you cover every base.
• Question everything, you cannot find out all you need to know unless you ask questions. Ensure you ask questions until you find out the whole process.
• Be critical and disruptive, this company has hired you to ensure they have the best process and systems.
• Draw, make sure you draw the process
  • Use a whiteboard or large paper
• Lingo, start drawing parallels between Salesforce lingo and the business requirement lingo (It will help later on)

When is the Game Day you should always carry the triple W with you

• WHO
• WHAT
• WHY

After Game

After the game, you should have all the meeting notes structured in a chronological way, which should also be shared with the stakeholders so you should all be on the same page, before you start working on the project or after you complete it and you want to refine certain aspects.

Now that we have the idea of how to write requirements, make sure to watch the Writing Good Salesforce Requirements: A Dramedy in Two Acts who will share the expertise.

Educate Yourself Further

Read more about The 5 Minute Time-Based Salesforce workflow

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