• Inch-Pebble Project Scheduling: Managing Concerns

  September 7, 2008

  
  

• Governance Thinking - Structure of Program Management Governance

  September 6, 2008

  
  

• Effects of Project Risks on Organization

  September 6, 2008

  
  

• Risk Management Process

  September 6, 2008

  
  

• Initiating Phase - Feasibility Study Request and Report

  September 6, 2008

  
  

• Build Training Time Into The Schedule

  September 5, 2008

  
  

• Powering Past the Post-PMP® Syndrome

  September 5, 2008

  
  

• Definition of Crashing (In Project Management Terms)

  September 5, 2008

  
  

• Project Resource Requirements

  September 5, 2008

  
  

• Initiating Phase - Project Specifications Request

  September 5, 2008

  
  

Documenting Requirements - Diagrammatic Methods

April 12, 2008 | Author: admin | Filed under: Scope Management, Project Scope Management, Requirements Management

Documenting Requirements - Diagrammatic Methods (#23 in the Hut A Project Management Primer)
By Nick Jenkins

While you can specify specification in textual form, more graphical methods are available. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, and this is both a blessing and a curse. While representing information with a picture or diagram can be extremely informative it can also be extremely confusing. Diagrams can often imply requirements without actually stating them and leave details open to interpretation.

For this reason I see graphical methods as supporting standard textual methods of description. They should be used wherever appropriate, where the graphical nature of a representation will more closely represent the nature of the requirement. If you find it difficult to explain in words the nature of a particular structure or process then by all means insert an appropriate diagram. The emphasis must be on concise, accurate representations, so use whatever combination of graphical and textual elements seems right to you.

Next in the Hut A Project Management Primer:

Documenting Requirements - A Sample Requirements Specification

Previously in the Hut A Project Management Primer:

The Language and Layout of Requirements Specifications

Nick Jenkins is an IT manager with 10 years experience in software development, project management and software testing. He’s worked in various fields of IT development in Australia, Britain and the USA and occasionally he learned something along the way. Now he lives on the banks of the Swan River in Perth, Western Australia, and he publishes the odd guide to help aspiring IT professionals. Nick’s website can be found at www.nickjenkins.net.

Related Articles

• A Project Management Primer - Scope - Documenting Requirements - Introduction
• Documenting a Project Life Cycle Management Process
• A Project Management Primer - Scope - Documenting Requirements - SMART requirements
• Documenting Requirements - A Sample Requirements Specification
• The Purposes and Methods of Practical Project Categorization - Part VIII - Conclusions

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