If you don’t know your boss that well, sitting down with him or her for the first time can be a nerve wracking experience. But what if you face the task of building a giant tomb to memorialize the wife of a famously strict, all-powerful emperor?
When Indian emperor Shah Jahan’s wife died in 1631, he ordered his court architect Ustad Lahauri to build a massive tomb to honor her memory. Imagine being in Lahauri’s position when he found out that he got handed this truly monumental assignment. What would be your first step?
Get your free copy of the ebook Beginners Guide to Project Management. Download Now.
The 4 Steps to Make Sure You Do Not Miss Any Requirements
With any new project, the first step is to try and gain an understanding of what is wanted. After understanding the problem that the project will address the next step is to get a more detailed view of what is wanted.
An easy way to get a quick overview on what is wanted is to take a trip toMoSCoW. Unfortunately, this does not mean a nice city break but to take away the vowels of MoSCoW and leave with MSCW, and this is where to start. “M” stands for “must have.” “S” stands for “should have.” “C” is “could have.” And finally, “W” is “won’t have.” These form the four steps to making sure you do not miss any requirements.
MoSCoW is a great place to start when trying to understand your project. Click To TweetHow To Use The MoScOw Technique
Let’s start with the most important letter, “M.” “Must have” requirements are so important that not meeting one requirement is a failure of the entire project.
Let’s say that in five minutes, you’ll have to stand before the emperor and fill out your “must have” list. Your goal here would be to get him to be as specific as possible. Think: what needs to change? How exactly do you intend to turn a flat tract of land into the Taj Mahal?
Do not rattle. If you fail to communicate well at this stage, there’s a high chance you’ll confuse and anger not only the emperor himself but also your entire project team– especially if you have to backtrack or discard something everyone’s worked hard on.
The emperor calls you in. He looks visibly shaken and sad. “I need to lay my wife to rest as quickly as possible,” he says. “And I want to build the biggest, most beautiful mausoleum in the world!” So you ask– very carefully and very politely, of course– if a 75-foot dome is large enough. The emperor scoffs. The main dome needs to be 100 feet tall, minimum.
Asking the emperor to define “big” was a smart move. “Big” could mean just about anything if there’s no number attached to the word. All the requirements– especially the most important “must have” requirements– should be described with numbers if possible. If you hit the numbers that the emperor has approved, there’s no way that he can complain or say that you failed later on.
Unfortunately for you, the emperor happens to know a lot about architecture– so you must detail “must have” list. The subject of minarets comes up during your discussion. “Of course there should be minarets! At the very least, we need four of them,” he says. “But let’s not worry about those for now.” Because minarets are part of the requirements but you don’t have a deadline to build them yet, you flip to the “should have” page of your MOSCOW scroll and scribble down “4 minarets.”
Your “MOSCOW” meeting drags on and on. The emperor’s imagination runs wild as he keeps thinking of ways to create a tomb that will never be forgotten. He comes up with 20 different ways to work the shape of the lotus flower into the design scheme. Don’t let any of his wild ideas go to waste– flip to your “could have” page and write down every single concept. You won’t have the time or resources to implement every single design idea the emperor comes up with. But the more “could have” work you can accomplish, the happier your boss will be in the end.
Your “won’t have” list. During this part of the process, you’ll face the difficult job of telling your boss: sorry, but we simply don’t have the time or the resources to accomplish that. Once you determine that a request is impossible to complete, don’t forget about it. Be sure to record it on your “won’t have” list. Your “won’t have” page exists to discuss and consider impractical ideas so as nobody forgets.
According to an old legend, the architects’ planned to create Taj Mahal out of black marble. But the emperor’s architects couldn’t find enough black marble stones. So, they used white marble instead. Whatever else the emperor wants but can’t have, you should add to your “won’t have” list.
After following the MoSCoW, you now have a much clearer idea about the emperor’s expectation from you.
To summarise MoSCoW stands for:
M – Must Have
S – Should Have
C- Could Have
W – Won’t Have
For more project management insight to make it easier to run your projects, please sign up to our newsletter.