Mastering the Requirements Process: Getting Requirements Right, 3rd Edition

5. Investigating the Work

in which we come to an understanding of what the business is doing, and start to think about what it might like to do

The owner’s work, for better or for worse, is the starting point of the requirements for any new product you build. Your product is intended to improve the existing work or enable some new capabilities for it. The work might be a small, simple task done by an individual, or it might involve many people and software systems and hardware systems, and make up a significant and critical part of the organization.

Whatever the work, it seems sensible to have a fair understanding of it before attempting any changes. If you charge in and make “improvements” with little or no understanding of what you are changing, ...