How Agile Practices Reduce Requirements Risks

Agile practices in software projects help you to reduce requirements risks and deliver real business value.

Every software project carries some risk, but many of these risks can be mitigated. That's true of problems related to product requirements – problems that are often cited as one of highest risks for any type of software project. Whether it is having unclear requirements, lack of customer involvement in requirements development, or defective requirements, these troubles are a major culprit in projects that go awry.

Project teams can make a difference by adopting and implementing agile practices. When implemented correctly, agile practices greatly mitigate risks associated with requirements on software development projects. In the recent article How Agile Practices Reduce Requirements Risks Ellen Gottesdiener explains how agile practices act to mitigate the risks – and, therefore, provide the business value for which these practices aim.

In particular, the following risks are addressed:

Risk 1: Unrealistic Customer Expectations and Developer Gold-Plating
Risk 2: Insufficient Customer Involvement
Risk 3: Poor Impact Analysis
Risk 4: Scope Creep
Risk 5: Defective Requirements
Risk 6: New Processes and Tools

According to Ellen Gottesdiener, myths abound about how agile practices ignore or avoid good requirements practices and can increase requirements risks. In reality, agile done right decreases common requirements-related risks. Adapting agile practices can enable the team to act in rhythm with the dynamic nature of requirements development and facilitate the delivery of "solutions that meet business needs, goals, or objectives".
Read more here: How Agile Practices Reduce Requirements Risks .