To achieve the goal we must: 1. understand what is valuable, 2. make sure that our efforts are focused on what is valuable, then 3. deliver something more valu

To achieve the goal we must: 1. understand what is valuable, 2. make sure that our efforts are focused on what is valuable, then 3. deliver something more valuable than before. Understanding what is valuable is the key to the whole process. It's achieved by "requirements management" [CMMI1.02, p86] Uh uh I LOVE when "the key to the whole process" of figuring out what "valuable" is, is a quick, off-hand reference to another doc. Since it's literally the key to the success of this whole operation let's visit that CMMI1.02, page 86 real quick to learn "requirements management": The term "requirements" refers to product and product component requirements that are received by or generated by the project, including those requirements levied on the project by the organization. The requirements are both technical and non-technical. The practices in the Requirements Management process area are the source for the current, approved set of requirements upon which all of the practices in the other project process areas act. The project takes appropriate steps to ensure that the agreed-upon set of requirements is managed to support the planning and execution needs of the project. When a project receives requirements from an approved requirements provider, the requirements are reviewed with the requirements provider to resolve issues and prevent misunderstanding before the requirements are incorporated into the project's plans. After agreement between the requirements provider and the requirements receiver, commitment to the requirements is obtained from the project participants who have to do project activities and implement the requirements. The project manages changes to the requirements as they evolve during the project and identifies any inconsistencies that occur between the plans and work products and the requirements. Part of the management of requirements is to capture requirements changes and rationale and maintain bi-directional traceability among source requirements and all product and product component requirements. CMMI-SE/SW, v1.02 Staged Representation Maturity Level: 2, Requirements Management 87 This process area is tightly coupled with the Requirements Development and the Technical Solution process areas, which address the processes for transforming stakeholder needs into product requirements and deciding how to allocate or distribute requirements among the product components. The practices in the Requirements Management process area should be done concurrently with the practices in the Requirements Development process area and the Technical Solution process area when those practices are implemented. That's for point 1 of this simple 3 step process. I bet steps 2-3 are just as straight forward.