Do vague program requirements cause projects to fail?
That’s the question ESI International wanted to know.
They surveyed project team members, including project managers and contracting officers, and found that 80 percent said their agencies lacked a formalized process for defining and managing program requirements.
Bill Damare is the Vice President for Government Markets at ESI International. He started off telling Chris Dorobek on the DorobekINSIDER program what exactly program requirements are.
• 80% lacked a formalized process
• 95% do not formally recognize a role accountable for RMD
• 95% lacked tools to carry out RMD activities effectively
• Their level of confidence with understanding vendor requirements was only 35%
ESI Graphic – click to enlarge
So why do programs fail?“Think of it like a game of telephone, if the requirements are not strongly defined up front and if you don’t manage stakeholder’s expectation’s than the message is going to get all mangled up,” said Damare.
ESI Graphic — Click to enlarge
You can download the ESI report: STRENGTHENING GOVERNMENT’S WEAKEST LINK: 5 STEPS TO BETTER REQUIREMENTS MANAGEMENT.