RE: New position myself - need advice on requirements

["Jonathan West" <jwest -at- mvps -dot- org>]

> The developers have actually been working with
> the IT director for over 6 months now, and everybody
> figures they already know so much about what the
> outcome should act like, they don't need a design
> guide now.

That is the key point. If it is true, then the work you are being asked to
do to documents the BRs and FRs is useless, and you are wasting your energy
on documentation that at this time isn't needed and won't be used.

But if it turns out that while everyone thinks they know how it should work,
they don't all have an *identical* understanding, then there is an urgent
need for an authoritative document which codifies the requirements and irons
out any misunderstandings.

So your first task should be to see if there are any discrepancies in what
people think the outcome should be. That doesn't just mean in terms of user
interface, but also in the overall feature set and in the APIs between the
code blocks being produced by different elements of the team. Take those
findings (however they turn out) to your boss, work out with him what
conclusions need to be drawn from them, and get him to give you orders as to
how to proceed from here. By all means suggest to him a possible course of
action, but it is most important that he takes ownership of the decision,
because whatever you do (or more accurately, whatever you decide not to do)
is going to put somebody's nose out of joint. As a new hire you need
management cover in such a situation.

Regards
Jonathan West

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