Then we had a meeting this afternoon. I got rather heated in the meeting a couple of times. Things I got heated at:
"Well, it's not really a stringent requirement."
"No, the software requirements document isn't about the reqirements of the software. It's what marketing requires of the software."
"Well, we don't define requirements like that. We don't need them to be unambiguous or testable."
Then they described the "process" to me:
1.) Marketing writes a PGS (product general specification), which is distilled from customer requirements. (So far, so good.)
2.) The system engineer creates an SRS (system requirements specification), based on an analysis of the PGS. (again, great.)
3.) The Requirements analyst uses the PGS to create an SRD (software requirements document). This is where things start to fall apart. First of all, the "analyst" is a marketing person, and he knows nothing of software. Second, he didn't use the SRS at all. Third, he didn't analyze anything, he just copied the PGS.
4.) if something isn't clear in the requirements, the engineers are required to create a PCR (product change request) and submit it to marketing. Marketing then schedules a meeting to go over the PCR, and if they agree that it is necessary, they okay it.
5.) The okayed PCR is then handed off to the "analyst", who enters it into the SRD.
And there have been no PCRs that have been okayed since October. But this is The Process.
And it was the software team that was telling me this.
Okay, your process is broken. Fix your freaking process.
Then there was the project manager telling me that we aren't supposed to make any direct changes to the SRD in Caliber, after telling me to do it last week.
Assamaholes.
Everybody has a different idea of what we're doing. And they've already decided when it will be done. I told the project manager today flat out that if we do not have agreement across the board on this, that this project will fail.
We are having a meeting on the 8th, where marketing, test, and enginering all get together to review the requirements. It's a good thing in that we all get to bring up our needs and what we see that we are doing. It's bad in that it's not going to be enough time to go over everything and make sure that we are all operating from the same rules.
But the project manager won't accept anything done after october.
So WTF?