How do you manage changes to requirements once development has started?
What the interviewer wants to hear
- Expect change and make it visible
- Understand the reason and business value of the change
- Analyse impact using traceability
- Route the decision to the right person, such as the product owner or change board
- Update requirements, tests and stakeholders
- Keep a history of decisions
Model answer
I expect requirements to change, so the goal is to manage change, not prevent it. When a change comes in, I first understand why it is needed and what value it brings. Then I use traceability to analyse the impact: which other requirements, designs, tests, data and processes are affected, and what it means for time and cost. In an agile team, I present this to the product owner, who decides where it goes in the backlog. On a fixed-scope project, it goes through formal change control. Once a decision is made, I update the stories or requirements, acceptance criteria and test cases, and tell the affected stakeholders and the team. I record the decision and its reason in a log, which avoids the same debate coming back later.
Can you answer it under time pressure?
Take a timed medium round and get scored on every answer.
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