Requirements Prioritization

Once a set of requirements has been identified, it is often the case that they need to be prioritized. Due to time and budget constraints, it is often difficult to implement all the requirements that have been elicited for a system. It may also be the case that the requirements are implemented in stages, and prioritization can help to determine which ones should be implemented first. Many organizations pick the lowest cost requirements to implement first, without regard to importance. Others pick the requirements that are easiest to implement. These ad hoc approaches are not likely to achieve the goals of the organization or the project. To prioritize requirements, one needs a very systematic prioritization approach. One needs to have a mature trade-off analysis that can be done to select a suitable requirements prioritization method and which reflects the goals of the project within the resource constraints. While results may vary from one organization to another, or for that matter one analyst to another, prioritization absolutely should have stakeholders involvement. Much work needs to be done before requirements prioritization is a mature area, but it is one that we must start to address.