Member-only story
The Real Difference Between Requirements and Solutions
Is it real or imaginary?
If you have been in the business analysis world for a while, you will be well acquainted with the “what vs. how” debate.
Business requirements define what is required. The “how” part must be left for the solution designers to figure out.
This debate impacts how we understand the boundaries of business analysts’ accountabilities.
On one hand, requirements should describe what is required — the details of the target state. On the other hand, how can you describe the target state without visualizing it?
“Don’t solution it,” “we need solution-agnostic requirements,” are the familiar refrains.
On the other hand, quality requirements need to be reasonable and feasible, in other words, useful for the project at hand. They will be more likely to be taken seriously and followed.
This gets more complicated due to the reality of the technology landscape in the organizations where business analysts work.
It is easy for an analyst to think of solution-agnostic requirements when no technology solution exists — for example when a business capability is supported by a combination of a manual process and office productivity tools.
