Both here at Bridging the Gap and other BA forums, a question that is constantly asked, mainly by aspiring and new BAs is, “Do you have a template to share?”
My temptation, when I get one of these questions, is to send the person to Let Me Google That For You. (Because, really, how difficult can it be to find templates in Word and other formats doing a quick Web search?) I’m pretty sure that if you use a search engine or look through the resources on this website and others dedicated to the BA community, you will find plenty of online templates for all sorts of requirements documents and reports.
Template vs. Sample
Often, when BAs ask for a template, they end up disappointed with what they get. Most templates will give you only an empty shell, with titles to indicate how to organize the content (“Overview” or “Background”, “Vision Statement”, etc.) and a short (and obvious) description of what should go under each title. Much more useful is a sample document that is similar to the artifact you are trying to produce, that not only shows how to organize the information, but actually illustrates the final product with relevant content.
One size does not fit all
A big mistake many BAs make is to think that by following a template, they can minimize the risk that stakeholders won’t be satisfied with their documents. The problem with this approach is that organizations are different, projects are different, and audiences are different. The same template that works for a project or audience, may completely miss the mark in another. I lost count of how many times I saw a BA post to a forum explaining their current project and asking whether s/he should write a BRD separate from the SRS, or produce a set of use cases, etc. Every time, my first reaction is to wonder why the person was asking strangers instead of their stakeholders what their needs and preferences are.
Do your own homework
Asking random strangers for a template, or trusting them to tell you how to organize your requirements packages, is never a good strategy. Perhaps the reluctance to ask business and technical stakeholders for their input (and make decisions about format and level of detail based on such input) comes from a fear that the questions will be interpreted as lack of competence, but this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Smart BA consultants are always ready to discuss expectations and to ask for existing templates in their client organization. If corporate templates can’t be found, or aren’t suitable for the project, the BA then negotiates with the team the best model to organize the information required for his/her deliverables.
Find good references
It’s always a good idea to have a set of samples available to use as a reference for such discussions with stakeholders (even if they do have standard templates, you may find them lacking, and suggest changes based on models you have found useful in the past). To start your own inventory of templates, I would go no further than Karl Wiegers’ samples and requirements templates from Process Impact. (Buying resources from his website will save you time and help ensure the quality of your documentation, while benefiting the Norm Kerth Benefit Fund, a worthy cause supported by the author.)
Gradually build your inventory of templates
Some analysts will be thinking, “Oh, but what I need is a template for documenting a
[ gap analysis / business case / etc. ], and I haven’t yet found a template for that particular use.” Well, why don’t you put your analytical skills to work, then? There is no need to reinvent the wheel, as most documents have the same organization (here’s another example of a table of contents, from businessgenetics.net). Take a look at different templates in your organization, and at samples found on the Web, and figure out how you need to organize your document, always confirming with your stakeholders if your proposed format and level of detail is appropriate for the audience.
In 10 years of being a consultant, I don’t remember using the exact same document structure for my requirements packages twice (even when working a second or third time for the same company in different projects, I’d add or remove sections from my templates based on specific project and stakeholder needs). In many cases I didn’t like the templates the company used, and offered suggestions to improve the organization of the documentation. Whenever possible, I replaced static documents with a wiki to facilitate communication or collaboration. There is no reason to think that you need to rely on third-party templates to achieve good documentation. Use the following steps, and you will be much closer to the goal of producing top quality documentation than any overspecialized template could help you achieve:
- select a quality foundation such as Karl Wieger’s templates and work aids;
- ask your audience what their needs are;
- find out what tools your organization provides for creating and sharing documentation;
- adjust and adapt.
Have you developed your own catalog of templates based on the experience you have accumulated as a BA? Is there an online source of templates and samples you particularly like as a starting point? Do share in the comments the advice you have for BAs looking for templates.
|
By Adriana Beal. Adriana received her B.S. in electronic engineering and MBA in strategic management of information systems from two of the most prestigious graduate schools in Brazil. She offers consulting assistance throughout the software development life cycle for organizations implementing large, complex software projects, and for the past 10 years, has been providing consulting services to a diverse client base, including major U.S. financial institutions. She recently published an ebook on Measuring the Performance of Business Analysts, with all proceeds going to a foundation helping underprivileged children in India. She is also the founder of Projeto 100%, a movement making significant changes in the lives of families living in poverty in Brazil. View more blog posts by Adriana Beal |
Related posts:
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Adriana, good article! I’ve been there myself for a few times when I thought it would be good to make standard analysis and design templates. I have to admit that they were almost useless. Now I just have a collection of document samples I go through each time I have to create a new one and gather ideas for structure and content. It is important to have your own documents as examples and also documents from others.
Karl — I’m glad to know that you share my strategy of having a collection of samples you can go through every time as a starting point. It definitely works well, and minimizes the risk of using the wrong structure or content just because it’s how you always organized documents before.
I agree that having a collection that includes both your own documents and other people’s (Karl Wiegers’ in my case
) is the best way to go.
Frustrating though, isn’t it, that as an industry we are not able to gravitate towards some sort of standard for requirements capture? You’d think it would be possible to produce the same type of output on project after project, for company after company, and be relatively sure of being understood by your stakeholders.
Building architects seem to manage it, don’t they? You don’t see a building architect asking his client or builder what format they would like the drawings in. Are building design and software design intrinsically different processes, or have we just not matured enough as an industry yet?
“Building architects seem to manage it, don’t they? You don’t see a building architect asking his client or builder what format they would like the drawings in. Are building design and software design intrinsically different processes, or have we just not matured enough as an industry yet?”
Tony, I don’t think designing buildings is comparable to designing software at all (plenty of IEEE articles discuss the significant differences). Granted, the software engineering field is fairly new and not as mature as other disciplines, but I don’t think when it gets more mature we will end up with a universal “standard for requirements capture”.
What I imagine could happen in the future is for project grids like the one I propose here: http://bealprojects.com/BA/whats-the-desirable-level-of-agility-for-your-projects/ to become a reference for helping determine in a more systematic way the type and level of documentation required by a project based on its profile. But even then, I’m not sure I’d like to see a standard that everybody follows.
To me, the emergence of some standardization efforts (like the RuleSpeak developed by Ron Ross – http://www.rulespeak.com/en/) is a valid development. However, in my experience it works best to have the decisions about how much and in what format to document business and software requirements made in a case by case basis rather than dictated by an external entity.
Adriana, great points. I don’t necessarily agree with the creation of new templates every time you need them. If there is some standardization in the company of templates and those templates are effective (and everyone has the same context to use them), then the templates are useful.
I have searched on Google and not found what I was looking for – wishing I had created a catalogue of templates from previous companies.
Why reinvent the wheel? The only template that I continually revise and tailor to each company is the RTM (requirement traceability matrix).
Yes, Michelle – I agree with you that reinventing the wheel is not a good strategy. A BA should never start from scratch every time you need to produce a new requirements document.
However, I also don’t advise BAs to just reuse the exact same model they had used before either. A few “tweaks” here and there — adding a section for the data model, or removing a section for non-functional requirements when those are captured at a higher-level — may be necessary. I hate documents that have many empty sections, or “fillers” just to maintain the original structure when it doesn’t necessarily fits the current process.
What is it that you were looking for and couldn’t find on Google? Post here and maybe I or another reader will be able to point you to a good source
.
I must admit that my biggest pet peave is people creating an excel spreadsheet and sending it out with pages 2 and 3 inactive. So I hear you!
I had asked Laura and a few other people for BI Strategy Requirements document and then another one I could not find was the requirements managment plan.
I basically built it with the team but would love to know if someone has templates.
Thanks!
Michelle, for “BI strategy requirements” I would use a normal BRD structure, and adjust the name of the sections accordingly. For more detailed BI requirements, have you checked this? http://www.m87systems.com/Assets/BIRequirementsChecklist.pdf
(might help with organizing the requirements document into “themes” (data inquiry, data manipulation, data analysis, etc.).
I never had to write a formal requirements management plan, but just googling it for you (heh) I found a lot of PDFs and Word documents with that name. Didn’t any of them suit your purpose?
P.S. Yes, I find spreadsheets with inactive tabs very annoying too, because we always have to wonder and click to see if there’s anything there
.
Adriana,
Thanks for the information. The frustrating part of all of this was the information exists in the BRD – but BI wanted it to be higher level. They had their own template – new process for them – so they are still trying to find out what fits.
The requirements management plan was easier to locate and work with. The team got together to put in their thoughts and away we went!
Great discussion everyone!
When I hear people ask for templates I sense that they often aren’t after a document template at all. Hence the disappointment Adriana describes when they get a template. Are they really after a sense of confidence that they won’t miss anything in their analysis?
For me, clutching at document or even process templates is a reaction to the inherent uncertainty in requirements gathering. With experience comes the confidence to use and discard templates/sections appropriately. Less experienced BAs haven’t yet developed this confidence.
I agree with Tony’s point that we are relatively immature as an industry and expect many improvements here. However, projects are, by their nature, unique. They may follow patterns but no matrix or template will ever be a complete substitute for sound judgement.
Maybe then, a request for a template can be treated as plea for help? Help in the form of coaching or mentoring from a more experienced BA with more confidence in their judgement?
Just some thoughts and opinions
My advice to BAs looking for templates: consider if a template is what you really need. What value will the template add?
Rob,
I agree 100% with what you said.
“Maybe then, a request for a template can be treated as plea for help? ”
Yes, but… We are business analysts. Don’t you think we should be doing a better job at getting to the root cause of the problem, rather than treating the symptom?
I receive many, many requests for help from BAs starting a new project or their first business analysis position (typically once a week), and I gladly help all these people. In my opinion, BAs who react to the uncertainty / ambiguity of the requirements process by reaching out to more experienced BAs for guidance have much better potential as BAs than someone who resorts to writing to a forum to ask for templates.
Thanks for your reply Adriana.
Totally agree about the potential of those who reach out to more experienced BAs such as yourself and it’s great you make the time to help them all. I’m sure it really helps.
Also definitely agree that great BAs help find root causes rather than symptoms. The idea behind my suggestion of more support was to address the “root cause” of lack of experience/confidence, not just the immediate need / symptom of template demand. It sounds like you have a different view of the root cause here though? I’m interested: how would you define the root cause in this instance?
Rob, I agree with what you said here:
“For me, clutching at document or even process templates is a reaction to the inherent uncertainty in requirements gathering. ”
(With the caveat that I, like many, dislike the expression “requirements gathering”, preferring elicitation or discovery instead
).
However, the uncertainty related to requirements discovery cannot be addressed by reusing a template, so the BA is looking for the solution in the wrong place. If the BA is feeling uncertain about requirements elicitation, he/she should be asking for help planning and executing the requirements phase, rather than expecting that the “perfect template” will solve the problem.
I think we are saying the same thing
(And well done for picking me up on ‘gathering’ – not the right word!)
“Do your own homework” – I’ve significantly slowed going to many forums for this very reason.
I have my inventory of samples from over the years and there isn’t likely going to be a universal because everyone and every project is unique. BI / Data warehouse projects are different from UI related work so why should they be expected or even asked to use the same template?
Another problem with continually using templates is the flawed idea that adherence to the “standard” is a desirable metric… hmmm, where did that idea come from?
A BA should be looking (alone or with stakeholders) at the sections in a document to evaluate whether they are useful to the project effort. All of the lack of confidence in abilities and probably the reason for the call to help might be better met by having a BA mentor? I don’t recall if this option was ever included in responses amidst the “let me google it for you”… does anyone recall a “go get a mentor” response in any of the requests for a template messages?
Oh, and I like to use the phrase – requirements discovery and development – since few requirements are one shot and done, they usually need to be tweaked in some way.