Requirements Engineering

Requirements Engineering is an essential part of successful software and system development projects. Without a structured requirements analysis, misunderstandings, high costs, and delays arise. This page provides a comprehensive overview of Requirements Engineering, its components, methods, and the risks of neglecting a solid requirements analysis.

What is Requirements Engineering?

Requirements Engineering involves the structured elicitation, analysis, documentation, and management of requirements for a system or software. Several aspects are crucial:

Involving stakeholders: All relevant stakeholders actively participate in the process to gather their requirements.
Creating a shared understanding: Requirements are formulated so that business and development teams have aligned expectations.
Documenting requirements: A clear and traceable documentation serves as the foundation for the subsequent implementation.
Facilitating communication between business and development: Requirements Engineering ensures that all parties share a unified view of the requirements.

A structured Requirements Engineering process leads to clear and actionable requirements, which developers can effectively implement while meeting stakeholder expectations. In addition to functional requirements (What should the system do?), quality requirements (e.g., performance, security, scalability) must also be considered.

Why is Requirements Engineering Important?

Requirements Engineering is a key part of any software development project. It forms the foundation for successful projects by ensuring that all involved parties clearly understand what needs to be done.

Without well-defined requirements, misunderstandings, delays, and costly rework frequently occur. A professional Requirements Engineering approach ensures that:

Project goals are clearly defined
All requirements are completely and clearly documented
The risk of misinterpretation and expensive rework is minimized
Software solutions are precisely aligned with business needs

What are the Key Components of Requirements Engineering?

Requirements Engineering consists of four main phases.

1. Elicitation

The first step is to gather requirements. This is typically done through stakeholder interviews to identify key aspects. The project is examined from different perspectives, including technical, business, and user-oriented viewpoints. Stakeholders from various areas, such as business departments or software development teams, represent different interests.

2. Analysis

The collected requirements are then analyzed.

Are there conflicts that need to be resolved?
Which duplicate requirements indicate critical needs?
In agile projects, the Product Owner starts prioritizing to align with the project vision.

3. Documentation

The core of Requirements Engineering is documentation. In agile projects, requirements are usually captured as User Stories. A structured requirements definition includes the requirement description, process diagrams, additional images/screenshots, and acceptance criteria that define completion conditions.

4. Validation

Before implementation, requirements must be reviewed. This involves validating them with stakeholders through reviews, prototyping, or test scenario walkthroughs. In agile projects, this often happens during a Refinement session, where developers ensure that requirements are complete and feasible.

What are the Risks of Neglecting Requirements Engineering?

Without a structured Requirements Engineering process, projects frequently face the following issues:

Misunderstandings between stakeholders and developers → The software does not meet actual business needs.
High rework costs → Features need to be re-implemented later.
Frequent interruptions due to unclear requirements
Delayed feature releases → Project timelines fall behind.
Incorrect prioritization of requirements → Critical functionalities are missing or implemented too late.
Operational process errors in production

What is the Difference Between Requirements Engineering and Requirements Management?

Requirements Engineering includes the elicitation, analysis, and documentation of requirements. In traditional projects, RE ends after the specification phase, whereas in agile projects, it remains an ongoing process.

Requirements Management ensures that requirements stay up to date throughout the entire project lifecycle. It controls changes, maintains traceability, and ensures structured requirement updates.

What are the Methods for Gathering Requirements?

Different projects and teams require different methods. Here are some common approaches:

Stakeholder Interviews
Workshops
Surveys
Observations
Brainstorming