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requirements or features but as pending items or backlogs of functionalities that
are yet to be completed.
8. Test Cases—Test cases are developed in place of requirements. Code is
developed to pass these test cases.
9. URS—yes, some agile projects do use good old URS to establish the project
requirements. These come in handy when the projects are outsourced to a far off
location offshore, the client organization supplies the URS as customer co-
location with the team is out of the question. Daily conference calls either with
the video or audio are used in place of the daily standup meetings.
15.12 Tracing and Progress Monitoring of Requirements
Progress monitoring is mostly face-to-face. Normally daily standup meetings are
the means by which all the project progress is communicated to all the team
members of whom the customer or customer representative is also one party. It is
usually the responsibility of the customer to communicate the progress of the
project to any other stakeholder. And if any other stakeholder wishes to com-
municate with the team, the stakeholder may participate in the standup meeting or
communicate the same to the customer representative who would in turn interact
with the project team and resolve the stakeholder concern.
Tracing of the requirements in the product is again incumbent on the customer
representative on the project team. Since a customer representative participates in
all meetings of the project team, he/she can ensure that all project requirements are
indeed met by the project deliverables. A formal traceability matrix is neither
defined nor updated.
The following are some of the means utilized by the agile projects to trace the
requirements and monitor the progress of the project.
Standup meetings—In this meeting, all the team members meet usually at the
beginning of the shift for a very short duration of about 15 min every day. During
the meeting, every team member informs the others about what was completed the
previous day, the plan for the current day and the problems or concerns the
individual is facing. These are discussed and consensus is arrived at immediately.
If any issue could not be solved immediately, the manager/coach/mentor would
find a solution and conveys it to the concerned team member and also perhaps in
the next standup meeting. Communication of the progress to the other stakeholders
is the responsibility of the customer representative.
Visible wall graphs—The progress of the project is depicted in appropriate
graphs as dash boards. The color green is used to indicate an activity that is under
control; red is used to indicate activities that are out of control; and yellow is used
to indicate activity that is tending towards slippage.
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