Show me a team thatâs unclear on the requirements, and Iâll show you a project destined to fail.
Requirements arenât just paperwork, they are the framework that provides the blueprint for delivering the projectâs product, service, and/or result. Unfortunately when project start with vague needs, missing inputs, and flimsy assumptions results can be disastrous for the project team.
How many of us have been involved in situations where someone says âletâs get started and weâll figure out the details later?â In the race to start working, to show that the team is busy, and to try to meet impossible deadlines, an anxious leader wants to get started. That action is sadly nothing but a failure trigger that does not end well for the project.
When requirements are unclear, incomplete, or inconsistent, every part of delivery becomes a guessing game. As a result, the scope drifts, milestones are missed, costs escalate, and the team wastes cycles on solving the wrong problems.
Requirements Are the DNA of Delivery
They define whatâs needed, not whatâs nice to have, not what one stakeholder whispered in passing, and not what the loudest voice in the room demands on a whim.
Requirements are the structured articulation of value.
They answer:
Why are we doing this?
What must the solution enable?
How will it function?
They do it in a way that lets people build, test, measure, and validate.
The Three Levels of Requirements
One of the best practices that I adopted in my career is to work with teams on identifying requirements at three levels:
Business Requirements
These describe what the business is trying to achieve. They are high-level objectives that justify the existence of the project. Think of them as the âwhyâ behind the project.
Examples include:
Increasing customer satisfaction
Reducing operational costs
Meeting regulatory compliance
Functional Requirements
These define the capabilities that the product, solution, or system must have to meet the business requirements. They specify what the system must do.
Examples include:
The ability to generate quarterly financial reports
Workflow for onboarding new clients
Automated alert system for overdue tasks
Technical Requirements
These outline the how. In other words, the technical constraints or conditions that the solution must satisfy. They often include infrastructure, platforms, or technology stack considerations.
Examples include:
Data must be encrypted at rest and in transit
The system must be accessible via mobile devices
Integration with existing ERP system
Where Projects Go Off the Rails
Failure doesnât usually come from a single bad requirement. It usually comes for a cascade of bad requirements, improperly identifying the requirements, and misalignment due to conflicting requirements. Common traps include:
Treating opinions as business requirements.
Jumping to building the product before there is clarity of desired features.
Capturing only what stakeholders say, without asking what they actually need and how they intend to use what they receive
Letting one personâs wish list override the collective goal.
These arenât just process issues, theyâre leadership breakdowns.
The PMâs Role: Translator, Not Typist
Project Managers arenât supposed to provide the answers to requirements. The job is that of facilitator, investigator, and validator. The PM does not own the answers but they should own the questions. to perform the job effectively, the PM needs to:
Facilitate with an eye on clarity.
Push for alignment among stakeholders and attempt to deconflict requirements.
Validate whatâs documented and ask for agreement.
Surface contradictions early, before they go live and explode.
The PM is the translator between business intent and delivery reality. If requirements arenât written down, that opens the door to chaos down the line.
Handling Conflicts and Trade-Offs
Sometimes two stakeholders define âdoneâ in ways that donât match. One wants automation while another wants manual review. One wants speed while a second wants audit trails. A PMâs job isnât to pick a side. Itâs to:
Clarify the trade-offs.
Ask what business goal takes priority.
Help them see that every choice has a cost, and force alignment before the product is built.
No one wins when the team builds a Frankenstein that tries to please everyone and satisfies no one.
If Itâs Not Clear, Donât Build It
When it comes to effective requirements identification and validation, the issue is not one of process discipline alone. We are looking at managing risk.
Unclear requirements are the silent killer of good projects because they sneak in early and collapse everything later.
So next time someone says, âLetâs get started, weâll figure it out as we go,â ask them this:
âWould you build a house without knowing what the foundation is supposed to hold?â
If the answer is no, then stop, define, validate, and own the requirements.
Where do your biggest requirement headaches come from? Unclear goals, too many voices, or shifting priorities?
Drop your thoughts and share your best practices.