16.2. REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERING AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT ARE INTIMATELY CONNECTED

When and where do these two disciplines intersect? In every phase of the project.

At the most basic level, customer satisfaction (or better yet, customer delight) is rooted in producing a product or service that fulfills the customer's purpose in an ideal fashion. Although we've previously stated that the quality component of the triple constraints is defined by requirements, in truth, the cost and schedule elements are also a function of completely understanding the customer's ideal project outcome. Requirements form a key component of a project proposal because they describe the ideal outcome of the project and because they drive the project scope. To the extent that requirements are uncertain or to be determined, the cost and schedule estimates lose their accuracy.