Pitfalls and Best Practices in Requirements Engineering and Management - Requirements Engineering and Management for Software Development Projects - page 207

participants learn from both the positive aspects and negative aspects of the
project. Unfortunately, this is not conducted for all completed projects. When it is
conducted, we discuss only the positive aspects and sweep the negative aspects
under the carpet. Such meetings would not achieve any positive learning. They are
a waste of time.
The best practice is to conduct a thorough project postmortem meeting and
discuss all aspects including achievements and failures. It should be led by the
person who conducted the phase end audit for the project closure and the project
manager who managed the project. The objective of the meeting should be to learn
from the completed project so that we can avoid the mistakes and take advantage
of the best practices. This is a best practice.
14.4 Final Words of Pitfalls and Best Practices
We have been executing software projects in a methodical way beginning with the
onset of SSADM for over three decades. We have gathered a significant amount of
knowledge on this topic of requirements engineering and management. It is a
matter of concern that poor requirements engineering and management continues
to be the number one reason for software product failure. Unless we carry out the
requirements engineering and management effectively, we may not build the
''right'' product or worse still, we may end up building the ''wrong'' product.
Therefore, it is imperative, for all of us involved in requirements engineering
and management, as well as, project management, to avoid the pitfalls and adopt
the best practices. This chapter is a step in that direction.