The most important pieces of information we must manage are product requirements, yet it seems to be something that lacks a standard practice or much discussion of best practice. Improve how your organization maintains requirements records.

In my experience, the most important element of successful product development is establishing product requirements. If we don’t correctly define what we are developing, it doesn’t much matter how well we design, test, produce, or sell our products.

The topic of defining and meeting requirements successfully is worthy of volumes, and many have been written. However, the topic of what to do with our requirements once the development is done gets little attention. This is unfortunate because it can be vital to the success of our products and our business.

If we lose track of product requirements, by the time we get our act back together, the damage to product performance, customer satisfaction, liability, safety, brand reputation, or loss of profits can be irreparable. So why do so many of us neglect them after we have launched the product? Perhaps we have a misinformed notion that we don’t need them once the product launches?

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