Never Walk Alone, the Tale of Two Snakes: Why Traceability Matters

Prologue

It was early Sunday morning; as I had woken up early, I stood right in front of my room to brush my teeth in preparation for going to the school chapel. After brushing, as I turned to return to my room, I noticed the transfixed gaze of some students as they stared in my direction. Within seconds, I bolted towards the girls’ hostel (it was the race of my life), as Kamoru (the school 100 meter champion) chased me with a big and long snake on a stick. I could hear students screaming and urging me on. On a normal day it will be impossible to beat Kamoru to a race, but this was not a normal day. It is never fun to have someone chase you with a big snake; it was indeed a very scary situation!

Introduction

Though not a Liverpool Football Club fan (nor a supporter of any football club asides our national team), I love their slogan “You will never walk alone”. Few people (if any) like loneliness, humans are defined as social beings. However, there are many animals that prefer to run “solo show”, prominent among them are snakes. I can’t stand the sight of a snake and do all I can to avoid them (even in Zoos). In Africa snakes typify evil and danger, and it is normal (and considered acceptable) to kill a snake.

The following statistics provide interesting facts:

Out of the 2500-3000 species of snakes worldwide, only about 500 which represent 17% to 20% are venomous (venomous refers to an organism that injects poison) and Australia has the highest number of venomous snakes.
Only one species of snakes is poisonous (poisonous refers to an organism that poisons through touch or ingestion).
Snakes rarely live and move around in group, an average snake moves around alone.

But there is a particular species of snake that stands out; the male and female always move around together. While the male glides from tree to tree, the female move on the ground. While the male is highly venomous, the female is non-venomous. While it is easier to take out just one snake, the coordination (or relationship) between this pair makes them a formidable threat to any predator (including humans).

The Two – Snake Gang: (Requirement) Relationships Matter

Requirements form the backbone of any project or business initiative, they specify the reason(s) why we do what we do. Where we live, what we drive and numerous other choices of ours are largely based on requirements. Just like personal requirements (or preferences), there are requirements that drives enterprises. Business Analysis has divided Enterprise Requirements into four classifications, and they are as follow;

Business Requirements
Stakeholders Requirements
Solution Requirements
Transition Requirements

Requirements have inherent relationships (they are connected to each other), and understanding the connections helps analysts and decision makers make informed decisions. Requirement traceability can be defined as having an in-depth understanding of how requirements are connected to one another.

The two-snake gang operates an effective partnership, while the venomous male provides protection for the female, the female acts as the scout for the team. It will take an experience farmer to take out this gang by first going for the venomous male, before attempting to neutralize the female. An ignorant farmer trying to neutralize the female first would be risking his/her life! While it may not be as obvious as in the case of the two-snake gang, requirements are also related or connected to one another, and an action (or inaction) on one, will definitely affect the other(s). Removing a requirement without carefully considering the effect of that removal on other related requirements is the beginning of the failure of that initiative. A good understanding of requirement relationship can help an analyst conduct a thorough Change Impact Analysis on a project or business initiative, the five kinds of requirement relationship (as defined by BABOK) are;

Necessity
Efforts
Subset
Cover
Value

Conclusion

Just as life will be difficult without meaningful relationships, failure to understand requirements relationship will make achieving success on any project or business initiative very difficult. It is only the farmer that understands the synergy between the two-snake gang that will live to tell the story.

Epilogue

I lost my footwear as I ran towards the girls’ hostel, but it was a successful strategy as Kamoru was forced to call off the chase. I later learnt that the snake on the stick was a dead one, but Kamoru’s original plan was to put the snake on my bed (thinking that I will still be in bed)! Even though the snake was dead, who will like to wake up to see a dead snake by his/her side! Despite all the facts quoted above, I still prefer to stay away from snakes.

Written by Oludayo Awe