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Project Management Primer #7 - Using Project Goals to Filter Requirements
 One of the primary purposes of goals is
to act as a filter for subsequent requirements.
If a particular requirement cannot be
traced back through higher-level goals to the overall project vision then it
should be dropped since it will be outside the scope of the project.
For example, if the overall vision for
the project was to “Deliver the best sales and marketing system on the market”
an appropriate sub-goal might be “to deliver a sales-order processing system for
use throughout all international offices”. An inappropriate sub-goal would be
“to deliver an invoicing system” since the invoicing system would be part of the
financial system and not the sales system.
This process of filtering should be used
throughout the project to assess requests for extra functionality and to
consider them for inclusion within the project. The use of such filtering
techniques gives you a method with which to avoid the perils of “scope creep”.
The link between low and high level
goals can be fundamentally important. By linking them together you can track
your progress through the objectives of your product. By delivering low level
goals you build up to the delivery of high level goals and ultimately the
delivery of the completed project. This is known as traceability.
More Tutorials:
Project Management Templates
Here are some Project Management templates you can get
on our partner's site.
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The Change
Management Kit provides the documentation required to
control changes to the scope, deliverables and resources within
the project. The Change Request template allows staff to raise a
change request within the project. |
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The
Project Planning Kit provides you with all of the
project management templates, documents and forms required to
plan a project by helping you to schedule time, cost and
resources. |
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The
Quality Management Kit includes a suite of templates
used to assure and control the quality of deliverables within a
project. |
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Project
Initiation Kit
Start a new project by documenting a business case, undertaking
a feasibility study, defining the project scope, recruiting key
staff and locating them within a project office. |
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Project
Execution Kit
Manage time, cost, quality, change, risks and issues during the
execution of your project, as well as supplier procurement and
customer acceptance. |
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Project
Closure Kit
Helps close your project by handing over deliverables and
documentation to the customer, terminating supplier contracts
and releasing resources back to the business. |
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