Requirements compete for attention
Projects have finite time, budget, people and capacity. Prioritization is therefore a business decision, not merely a product backlog sorting exercise.
Prioritization lenses
- Business value
- Customer impact
- Risk reduction
- Urgency
- Dependency or enabling value
- Effort and feasibility
Use a technique that makes the trade-off visible. A simple value-versus-effort grid is often more useful than a complicated score that nobody understands.
Verification vs validation
Verification asks whether the requirement or deliverable meets the defined quality criteria. Validation asks whether it actually represents the intended need and is useful in context.
Traceability
Traceability gives the team a way to answer: “Why are we building this?” and “Where is this requirement verified?” A lightweight chain can connect business objective → requirement → user story or specification → acceptance criteria → test → release.
When requirements change
Do not treat every change as bad. First understand why it changed, what it affects, and whether the new information increases value or reduces risk. Then use the project's agreed change or prioritization mechanism.
Portfolio artifact
Build an RTM for a fictional subscription platform. Keep it small enough that a recruiter can understand it in one minute.