Establishing the Product Vision and Project Scope

Chapter 5 Establishing the Product Vision and Project Scope 87
accommodate them, with corresponding changes in budget. schedule, and
staff. Keep a record of rejected requirements and why they were rejected
because they have a way of reappearing.
More Info Chapter 18, "Requirements Management Principles and
Practices;' describes how to use a requirements attribute to keep a
record of rejected or deferred requirements.
3.1 Scope of Initial Release
Summarize the major features that are planned for inclusion in the initial release
of the product. Describe the quality characteristics that will Iet the product provide
the intended benefits to its various user classes. If your goals are to focus
the development effort and to maintain a reasonable project schedule, avoid
the temptation to include in release 1.0 evety feature that any potential customer
might conceivably want someday. Bloatware and slipped schedules are
common outcomes of such insidious scope creep. Focus on those features that
will provide the most value, at the most acceptable cost, to the broadest community,
in the earliest time frame.
My colleague Scott's last project team decided that users had tobe able to
run their package delivery business with the first software release. Version 1
didn't have to be fast, pretty, or easy to use, but it had to be reliable; this focus
drove everything the team did. The initial release accomplished the basic objectives
of the system. Future releases will include additional features, options, and
usability aids.
3.2 Scope of Subsequent Releases
If you envision a staged evolution of the product, indicate which features will
be deferred and the desired timing of later releases. Suhsequent releases Iet you
implement additional use cases and features and enrich the capabilities of the
initial use cases and features (Nejmeh and Thomas 2002). You can also improve
system performance, reliability, and other quality characteristics as the product
matures. The farther out you Iook, the fuzzier these future scope statements will
be. You can expect to shift functionality from one planncd release to another
and perhaps to add unanticipated capabilities. Short release cycles help by providing
frequent opportunities für Iearning based on customer feedback.