Requirements Management: How to Ensure You Achieve What You Need from Your Projects

Poor requirements management is one of the top five contributors to poor project performance. In extreme, safety critical or emergency-relief situations, failure to satisfy the real needs of the project stakeholders may well lead directly to loss of life or human suffering; other, more mundane, projects can also be severely compromised. Dr Mario Kossmann’s Requirements Management looks at the process from the perspectives of both Program and Project Management and Systems Engineering, showing the crucial role of RM in both contexts. The author puts great emphasis on the human aspects of any project, which is also significant given that over-emphasis on technical or technological aspects at the expense of the human side is another major source of project shortfalls. The book offers illustrated examples of systems of different levels of complexity (one simple system, one complex, and one highly complex system) to help you categorize your own system and enable you to select the right level of formality, a suitable organization and a set of techniques and tools to carry out your requirements work. It includes a series of comprehensive checklists which can be used immediately to improve urgent requirements aspects. This is a practical and realistic guide to requirements management that provides a flexible, hands-on and innovative approach to developing and managing program, project and system requirements at different levels of complexity; read it and use the advice offered to ensure your projects can actually deliver, first time, without the need for costly and time-consuming rework.

Table of Contents:
Part I Introduction to Requirements Management; Chapter 1 Introduction; Chapter 2 RM from a Systems Engineering Perspective; Chapter 3 RM from a Project and Program Management Perspective; Part II Putting Requirements Management into Practice; Chapter 4 Human Factors – The Key to Success; Chapter 5 The RM Process; Chapter 6 Techniques and Tools Supporting the RM Process; Chapter 7 The Use of RM at Three Levels of System Complexity; Chapter 8 Conclusion;

About the Author :
Dr Mario Kossmann is an experienced Systems Engineer and Capability Integrator for Airbus, having previously worked for Blohm & Voss as Systems Engineer, Technical Manager and Consultant in Services Marketing. He has served as a naval officer with the German and French navies, and was awarded an MEng in Aerospace Technology from the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich (Germany), an MBA from the University of Warwick (UK) and a Ph.D. in Requirements Engineering from the University of the West of England. He is the author of the book Delivering Excellent Service Quality in Aviation (Ashgate 2006), as well as numerous research publications in the field of Systems Engineering. Mario is also a certified Project Manager and a Certified Systems Engineering Professional (CSEP).

Review :
'There are many books and scientific publications on systems engineering and requirements management. This book is not claiming to substitute them but rather offers a comprehensive and practical guide for project managers in a wide range of business contexts of different levels of complexity. The book is written in a simple but not simplistic manner supported by concrete and detailed real life examples, thereby allowing non-experts in the field to greatly enhance their project outcomes via improved management of their requirements.' Dr Vassilis Agouridas, Strategy & Company Development, Eurocopter 'I believe this book contains nuggets of gold that when understood, adopted and applied will improve my performance as both a leader and consultant and also that of my company.' Dr Clive Bancroft, Managing Director, Enabling Process Technologies 'A set of inspiring requirements management reflections by a senior requirements engineer and process architect with very rich experience over more than a decade in the field.' Dr Mohammed Odeh, Head of Software Engineering Research Group, University of the West of England 'This book is a practical and easy-to-follow guide for best practice on an underestimated topic: we often do not get what we really need from projects, and yet we seem to be reluctant to change that, because we erroneously think we haven't got the time. I strongly recommend this book, it's an eye-opener.' Prof. h.c. cn. Eckhard Michel, International Business Management Consultant 'The book is a great introduction to requirements management... [it] covers important aspects of requirements management focused on system sengineers, project and program managers... and provides good reference material to simplify requirement management challenges.' PM World Journal, August 2013 'This book is aimed at three main groups - people with time to run through it in detail, those with limited time and those who have an urgency to identify and resolve requirements. It gives comparative examples, making the book relevant for beginners and experienced practitioners.' Project Magazine