Soft-Side of Requirements Analysis & Design

The history of Requirements Analysis and Design makes an interesting study. For example, “We the People” have always experienced a range of requirements for a range of needs that spanned the duration of every human life. Although we are mortal creatures with finite lifetimes, we are still complex beings with complex needs. Merely to live an ordinary human life, each one of us lives a life embedded in a universe of needs and necessities merely to exist. You, me, and each of us earthly creatures embedded in a life of many needs and necessities. To get some idea of the range and depth of our dependencies forming our mortal situation. For example, consider the following list of existential necessities and you will get some examples of the nature of our finite human lives. Think about it. We humans here on earth require: more than 40 essentials to safely navigate our way through the ups and downs of life more safely, and hopefully, more wisely. The interesting thing about the list of existential necessities is that every single human being faces these challenges at birth and beyond. How youngsters gain these existential necessities, and to what degree they gain them, directly impacts each person’s life, liberty, and his or her degree of freedom to pursue happiness. The nature and course of human life is indeed extremely remarkable. If you eliminate some of these, increase their intensity or even the mixture of their relationships with each essential necessity, the experience of one’s life may change dramatically in some way. So, this is important to understand because in their own way, these existential necessities will influence in one way or another how well we will engage in the “Soft Side of Requirements Analysis & Design.” Mastering the Soft Side of Requirements and Analysis is not all about mastering the concepts and processes of the Soft Side of Requirements and Analysis, it is also about the mastery of our existential necessities. This is something that rarely ever comes up in discussions between managers and their teams during training events and discussions. Nevertheless, these issues are indeed implicitly and consistently present every single day and every single minute. It is a mistake to overlook the issues that emerge because of these existential necessities. So, understanding this, I will not begin the book with an appropriate introduction. Thank you for being there. I hope you enjoy the book.