Requirements Activities

Your requirements is one of the key piece of documentation that will create a shared understanding of what needs to be built, and the problem being solved. These activities will help you frame your requirements.

“The hardest single part of building a software system is deciding precisely what to build.” — Fred Brooks

OSU Advantage Accelerator’s Iterate Program

Team Activity

Join the Iterate program of the OSU Advantage Accelerator to develop your project idea. This four-workshop program is offered once per school term to inform and prepare you on essential aspects of starting a successful business venture.

Note

This activity is especially relevant for students with a New Product or Game project. It is recommended to participate in the Fall term cohort.

Check some of the Accelerator’s other resources.

For this activity, participate in all four workshops as a team, and write a report that includes all artifacts that you produced during the program.

Lean Canvas Canvas

Team Activity

Complete the Lean Canvas, with as much details as you can.

Something unclear? Look up explanations and some examples online.

Submit your Canvas with any additional information that might be useful to understand it. Consider going more in-depth by detailing the sections of the canvas is a document.

Hypothesis Testing

Individual Activity Team Activity

Most of the information in your Lean Canvas are hypotheses. Identify five of the riskier hypotheses in your plan’s customer segments, problems, and competition.

For each hypothesis:

1. Construct a fail/pass test.
2. Interview at least five members of the relevant customer segment (enough to suggest the hypothesis holds or not) and produce anonymized data about the customer interviewed.
3. Provide a clear and professional summary of the results of the test (insights, etc.)
4. If your initial hypothesis is false, provide a pivot hypothesis.

If working on this activity as a team, have each different person focus on a different set of hypotheses.

🔥 User Story Mapping (Use Cases and Scenarios)

Individual Activity Team Activity

After reading this User Story Mapping article from the Nielsen Norman Group, create a comprehensive user story map for your project, and include an initial written set of epics and user stories.

If working on this activity as a team, have each different person focus on a different set of stories.

User’s Emotional Objectives

Individual Activity

We often focus on users’ functional goals, but emotional objectives often play a bigger role in decision-making.

• What emotions is the user seeking when using the software?
• How does the software impact their relationships or self-perception?

For example, a peer resume critique website might meet the functional goal of reviewing resumes, but the emotional objective is to ease job search anxiety. Similarly, in the auto industry, messaging focuses on emotions: a car might make someone feel wealthy or adventurous. How can your software address these emotional needs?

Submit an analysis of your project from the perspective of the user emotional objectives, explain which user segment or audience you are targeting. Share it with your team.

Domain Model

Individual Activity

Create a Domain Model that represents the key entities and relationships within your project’s problem space.

• Identify Entities: list the main objects or concepts relevant to the domain (e.g., users, products, orders).
• Define Attributes: for each entity, specify key characteristics or properties (e.g., name, ID, status).
• Establish Relationships: map how entities interact with or relate to one another (e.g., “User places Order”).
• Draw the Model: use diagrams (UML or similar) to visualize the domain.

Submit a diagram along with a brief explanation of the entities and their relationships.

User Manual

Individual Activity Team Activity

Develop a preliminary user manual that outlines how end-users will interact with your software.

• Identify Key Features: list the core features users need to know about.
• User Instructions: provide step-by-step guides on how to use the system, including screen navigation and input details.
• Common Issues and Solutions: include troubleshooting tips for common problems users may face.
• Interface Overview: provide a brief description of the user interface.

Submit a draft of the user manual with clear instructions on using the main features of your system.

If working on this activity as a team, have each different person focus on a different subset of the manual.

Define Your Research Questions

Individual Activity

Note

It is highly recommended to do a literature review first.

After identifying gaps or unique insights in existing research, write your research question(s). Explain whether your research will be primary (i.e., collecting original data) or secondary (i.e., analyzing existing data), and what you’ll need to get started.

Collect Data Sources

Individual Activity

If you are conducting secondary research, i.e. analyzing existing data or literature collected by others, list all the relevant data sources needed to answer your research questions.

Specifically, list the data sources, who created them, when, their format/schema, how to access or download them, and what their purpose is in the context of your research.

Define The Data To Collect

Individual Activity

If you are conducting primary research, i.e, collecting original data, define what type of data (i.e., qualitative, quantitative, mixed) you need to collect, and what methodologies you will use (i.e., surveys/questionnaires, interviews or focus groups, experiments or observations). Explain the purpose of each category of data collected with regards to your research question(s).

SWOT Analysis

Individual Activity

Conduct a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis to identify key internal and external factors affecting your project.

• Strengths: Identify the internal strengths of your project (e.g., team skills, resources).
• Weaknesses: Determine internal weaknesses (e.g., limitations in knowledge, budget).
• Opportunities: Explore external opportunities that could benefit your project (e.g., new technologies, partnerships).
• Threats: Identify external risks or challenges (e.g., competitors, regulatory issues).

Provide a report outlining the SWOT analysis and how these factors will influence project planning and decisions. Consider creating a matrix with four quadrants.

Low or Medium-Fidelity Prototype

Individual Activity

Create a low or medium-fidelity prototype to clarify and validate the project’s functional requirements.

• Define Key Features: Identify the main features to be included in the prototype.
• Create the Prototype: Use tools like Figma, Adobe XD, or similar to build a clickable prototype that demonstrates key user flows.
• Validate Requirements: Review the prototype with stakeholders or users to ensure it meets functional requirements.

Submit the prototype link and a brief reflection on how it clarified or influenced the project’s requirements.