Requirements Are Simply Requirements—or Maybe Not

Many people talk about requirements. They use identical terms and think they have a common understanding. Yet, one says user stories are requirements; another claims user stories must be combined with requirements; and yet another has a different approach. These “experts” seem unaware of the critical inconsistencies of their positions. No wonder getting requirements right remains a major challenge for many projects. Robin Goldsmith analyzes often conflicting, not-so-shared-as-presumed interpretations of what requirements are, reveals likely implications, and challenges not-so-wise conventional wisdom. Robin describes a more appropriate model of business requirements—the “whats”—that provide value when combined with product/system/software functions—the “how.” He introduces the powerful Problem Pyramid™ systematic disciplined guide to help you more reliably get requirements right. The structure makes it easier to see where user stories do or do not fit, identifies pitfalls of the “as a ” format, and reconciles some of the conflicts between user stories, features, use cases, and requirements.