Requirements Management for Product Owners

A lot has been said on our blog about acceptance testing and how automated software can simplify this process. Most of the information we share here is primarily geared towards helping testers to carry out their job more efficiently and effectively.

In this blog post, however, I’ve decided to shift tracks and write about requirements management from the business perspective instead.

After all, ReQtest is truly a software solution that can make life simpler for everybody involved in software testing. Users, developers and even product owners and their representatives stand to benefit from using ReQtest, and it is the two latter type of users that I’d like to turn my attention to in today’s article.

Focusing on requirements management from a business perspective

The process of software development always starts from the vision of a new product that can serve a particular customer base in doing something better. Depending on the commercial viability of this product, this vision is translated into reality through a sequence of predictable steps.

Writing down the product requirements is probably one of the most important steps in the development cycle, as the list of requirements is essential in transferring the core idea from the product owner to the development and testing team.

The client’s involvement should not stop there however. Requirements management is enhanced if all stakeholders participate. Therefore, having a convenient system which allows two-way communication between product owner and the team will ensure that the end-result is satisfactory.

Here at ReQtest, we believe that our software can facilitate the exchange of information between product owners and the team, particularly in the area of requirements management. This is possible thanks to the presence of an interactive agile board, the facility of emailing requirements directly to the system, as well as ReQtest array of automated functions.

Writing requirements directly as stickies on the Agile Board

One of the ReQtest features we’re proudest of is the Agile Board. This simple and colourful organisation tool lets anyone visualise the various tasks that go into creating software, who is in charge of seeing them through, as well their priority and the progress made.

For clients and their representatives, the Agile Board allows them to stay in the loop without overwhelming them with technical information on product development. A nifty feature of the Agile Board, which can be very useful for business representatives, are ‘stickies’.

These digital sticky notes can be fixed anywhere on the Agile Board, just like their physical counterparts. However, unlike paper notes, ReQtest’s stickies provide more functionality and can store a richer variety of information.

Business reps, for example, can easily append comments and recommendations to existing stickies, or even create new ones where they input requirements directly.

Sending requirements and bugs via email directly to ReQtest

We designed ReQtest to be inherently collaborative. True to the agile principles we apply in our work, we created a solution that allows real-time communication between users connected to a ReQtest account to foster better communication among all parties.

One of the features of ReQtest that simplifies the work of business reps is the possibility of sending requirements or report bugs via email directly to a ReQtest account. Simply create the list or attach it as a separate file and send it. It couldn’t be any easier!

This functionality allows everybody to collaborate on a project and ensures that all stakeholders are on the same page at all times.

Creating issues automatically on ReQtest

Automation lies at the core of what ReQtest does. Thanks to the use of customisable templates, product owners can quickly create new issues and send them to the people who can deal with them.

The use of templates cuts down on the time taken to complete new issues as well as facilitates the analysis of the matter by the experts who can get to the heart of the matter in the shortest time possible and implement a solution that is to the client’s satisfaction.

Conclusion

We created ReQtest to be a holistic solution for testing, bug reporting and requirements management. Everyone involved in the development of new software can benefit from this powerful tool to greatly simplify their work process.

This also includes people on the business side of software creation, who can use ReQtest to keep in constant contact with the creative side and make sure that their requirements are being fulfilled according to the product owner’s expectations.