The area of biggest challenge I’ve faced in software development is requirements. Nothing earth shattering there. It’s hard to state clearly what you want and it’s even harder to pick what is most important. In consumer applications, using mocks of the UI (simple to realistic) is an excellent aid in driving definition of the requirements. But no one wants to pick what’s the most important feature they need implemented. When asked for a prioritization, they will group features into “priorities”.

As Marty Andrews wrote, “At this point, the stories have not been prioritised. They have been classified into groups, where the group is named “Priority One”. Whilst this may be a useful culling technique, do not fool yourself into thinking they are prioritised.” (more…)