Informal Requirements Analysis

Here’s an awesome application of a solution selling technique that one of my young coders hit me with the other day.  And what a pleasure it was to hear.  Alex wanted to know more about a particular app we’re developing internally to help productivity benefit from web 2.0 capabilities.  How he began was a lesson to anyone selling something that needs detailed consideration.

He kicked off by saying this was simply an “informal requirements analysis“.  He went on, “as important stakeholders, you’ll know what you want the system to do“.  Then he broke down how we should consider our spec “into 3 levels; what you Need to have, what you Want, and what you’d really Like“.  He went on to explain the first category involved the essentials – those things core to the project.  And as you went through the sale, you moved towards nice-to-haves or luxuries.

Pretty impressive for a young lad recently out of college, and the discussions continued in a wonderfully promising fashion.