Three Point Scale

[Thadeus]

Hello all,
I am creating a requirements document and I have included a weight measurement for the features I am requiring.

Now without getting into the somantics around 'require', I am requesting some opinions on the weighting scale.

I am using a three point scale with a Three being a feature that the prospective product must have or we don't want to look at it. A Two designates a feature that will significantly improve performance if it is included. A One designates a feature that we want the product to have, but not at the expense of a Two or Three feature....

Clear as mud? OK

My objective is to get those designations into a concisely worded, crystal clear scale. Something along the lines of 3 = Must Have feature. The problem is that a 1 isn't a "like to have" feature. It's still a requirement, just lower on the totem pole.

Opinions?

~Thadeus

 

[CajunCenturion]

One option could be:

Mandatory Requirments
Recommended Features
Additional Features


Good Luck
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[CajunCenturion]

On second thought - "Optional Features" for the 3[sup]rd[/sup] category may be a better choice.

Good Luck
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[SQLSister]

Thadeus, your second and third option are in fact, recommended or "nice to have" features based on your description. If they are hard and fast requirements, they all belong in the first category. There is no such thing as an optional requirement.

I like Cajun's suggestion of Manadatory, Recommended and Optional.


Questions about posting. See faq183-874

 

[RodKnowlton]

How about:

Mandatory
Preferred
Optional

 

[Thadeus]

I didn't suggest any were optional... or maybe I did...

Here's an analogy:
I'm building a house and my main priority is to provide shelter from bad weather.
We've determined that a roof is a 3 feature. Since it is a house, we see windows as a requirement. However, you may say, "For your budget we can offer space-age shingles that will never age, but you won't be able to open the windows."

Now I can't say what my answer would be, but those are the type of options I want my team to bring me.

~Thadeus

 

[Thadeus]

Sorry, windows are rated a 1 in my analogy.

~Thadeus

 

[CajunCenturion]

In your alanogy, you said, "we see windows as a requirement." If they are a requirement, then they are mandatory, just like the roof.

If you would not even look at the house if it did not have openable windows, then openable windows is a #3 mandatory feature.

If nothing if optional, then by definition, everything is mandatory.

Good Luck
--------------
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[CajunCenturion]

You can say that having windows is mandatory.
It is recommended that windows be openable or it is optional they they be openable.


Good Luck
--------------
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[RodKnowlton]

If they're all required, it doesn't make any sense to refer to one being lower on the totem pole than another. "Requiredness" doesn't have degrees, it's a binary value. Either it's required, or it's not. Sorry for the semantics, but we have to understand the question before we can have a chance of finding the answer you want.

Maybe it would help if you describe what you will do with these weights once they are assigned. What is it that they will effect?

 

[rosieb]

How about:

3 Essential/mandatory
2 Desirable
1 Beneficial

I suggest you create a grid where you list all the features give each a weighting (numbered) and explain in the preamble how the weightings work, then ask them to complete the grid with:

2 Included as standard
1 Available at extra charge (specify cost)
0 Not available

This should make your scoring relatively easy.




Rosie
"Never express yourself more clearly than you think" (Niels Bohr)