Understanding Requirements - Requirements Engineering and Management for Software Development Projects - page 26

changes proposed on frozen requirements are considered for the next upgrade/
release of the product.

New product—existing in the market—This is a scenario in which the
product is new to the organization proposing to develop it but something similar is
available in the market. When somebody or an organization wishes to develop a
competitor to a product that is already existing in the market, the requirements
evolve through the following phases:

1. Idea germination—The entrepreneur or the product manager or someone with
a say gets an idea to develop a product as a competitor for an existing product.
The existing product may not be fulfilling the market expectations or the market
is large enough to accommodate a new and innovative product or some such
motive could be behind the idea. This is the preliminary requirement.
2. Market/customer/consultant surveys—Market surveys are conducted to
confirm the need for an additional product and to unearth the needs unfulfilled
by products existing in the market.
3. Personal interviews—Personal interviews with experts in the field are con-
ducted

to validate the data from market surveys and to add any more

requirements to the list.
4. Brainstorming—In the brainstorming, one-upmanship ideas over the existing
product are generated. Ideas about more functionality, better presentation,
better workflow, improved ease-of-use, more user options, flexibility etc. are
generated during brainstorming. These would be analyzed and requirements are
finalized.
5. Prototypes—Normally prototypes are not constructed in this scenario as a
working product is available in the market. But, it may be used sometimes to
prove a concept or a feature and get feedback from the market.
6. Freeze requirements—Freezing requirements as noted earlier involves
approving the requirements document and subjecting it to the rigor of config-
uration control and change management.

Product upgrade—We have a product that has been in the market for some
time and we have been receiving feedback about the desired additional features or
improvements in the existing features from our customers, field support staff,
marketers and Value Added Resellers (VARs). We also find that competitors have
brought their products into the market which are cutting into our market share.
Therefore, we wish to upgrade our product to keep it competitive and attractive to
the market. Here is how the requirements evolve:

1. Feedback/Surveys from VARS—VARS are one valuable source of feedback
about the existing product owing to their proximity to the competitors in the
market and end users. Whenever they provide feedback, we need to analyze and
resolve it. When we contemplate upgrading the product, we need to conduct a
survey to elicit their views on the improvements desirable to our product over
and above what they already communicated. The information obtained from the