requirements-status-tracking

Purpose

Guide requirements engineers through establishing a requirements status tracking system that provides visibility into the lifecycle state of every requirement. This enables data-driven answers to questions like: "How far along are we?" "Where are the bottlenecks?" and "Are we on track for the release?"

This is not a project management substitute. It is a requirements-centric view of progress that complements schedule tracking by showing which requirements have been specified, approved, implemented, and verified -- and which are stuck, deferred, or at risk.

Key Concepts

Traditional Status Lifecycle

The standard requirements status lifecycle has six primary states and three terminal states:

Proposed --> In Progress --> Drafted --> Approved --> Implemented --> Verified
                                |            |            |
                                v            v            v
                            Deferred     Rejected      Deleted