This talk will focus on redefining the way we talk about requirements today. Whether you are an up-stream decision maker, or a down-stream delivery expert, “requirements” are a frustration. Either you don’t get what you asked for, and are constantly battling budget and time crisises, or you are dealing with demands that simply don’t make sense. This talk will offer you a new approach to requirement definition that will end in faster delivery time and greater revenue gains both short-term and long-term.

1. PRODUCTCAMP
Contents Confidential and © Shift Consulting Group, LLC,
Reframing Requirements:
A Strategic Approach to Requirement Definition

2. Owner of Shift
Human-Centered Strategy.
20+ years of experience.
75+ clients, from every industry.
Methodology fan. Visual thinker.
About Me

3. WHO WE WORK WITH
Our clients range from
the Fortune 100 to
innovative startups.
Our work includes leading
customer experience
transformations for companies like
Bayer, Edward Jones, Blue Cross
Blue Shield, Ascension, etc. We’ve
been serving our clients since
2017.

4. Foundational
concepts

5. Strategy

6. strat e gy
“A detailed plan for achieving success in situations such
as war, politics, business, industry, or sport, or
the skill of planning for such situations.”
WHAT IS IT

7. STRATEGY
We’d argue…
That being “strategic” is not about your role, or your status in a pecking
order, but a mindset that provides greater influence on the human
systems that you operate within.

8. STRATEGY
With that said…
It’s still important to be able to articulate the differences in a strategy that
impacts the overall identity of a business, vs. a strategy singularly
affecting a product or service, and everything in-between.

9. Altitude

10. ALTITUDE

11. ALTITUDE
We’re going to talk about two
distinct altitudes
Business Strategy, or “up-stream” strategies, including the overall
objectives that a company pursues to create value for the organization.
Product/Service Strategy, the further “down-stream” plan for how to
deliver a product or service.

12. BUSINESS STRATEGY

13. PRODUCT/SERVICE STRATEGY

14. MATURE
PROTO-
TYPE
INSIGHT
FRAME
FOCUS
TEST
DEFINE
IDEATE
OPPORTUNITY
ACTIVATION
SOLUTION
EMPATHIZE
MEASURE
SCALE
PILOT
ENABLE
Shift’s Human-Centered Framework

15. The problem with
“Requirements”

16. THE PROBLEM WITH REQUIREMENTS
Spinning
“If it weren’t for you guys we’d still
be sitting around a conference room
table talking about what to do.”
Particularly at high-altitude, it’s
common for businesses to get lost in
the clouds.

17. THE PROBLEM WITH REQUIREMENTS
Missing the big
picture
“Can’t see the forest for the trees.”
By nature, a boots-on-the-ground
delivery team isn’t going to see the
whole landscape, and often doesn’t
understand the big picture — through
no fault of their own.

18. THE PROBLEM WITH REQUIREMENTS
Inflexibility
Once set, requirements are often difficult to change, making it hard to
adapt to new insights or market changes.

19. THE PROBLEM WITH REQUIREMENTS
Misinterpretation
Requirements can be misunderstood by different stakeholders and
delivery teams, leading to discrepancies between expected and
delivered outcomes.

20. THE PROBLEM WITH REQUIREMENTS
Over-Specification
Excessively detailed requirements can limit creativity and innovation,
locking teams into specific solutions too early.

21. THE PROBLEM WITH REQUIREMENTS
Under-Specification
Conversely, vague requirements can lead to scope creep, with additional
features or changes increasing time and costs unpredictably.

22. THE PROBLEM WITH REQUIREMENTS
Neglecting the end user
Focusing on technical or functional requirements without adequately
considering the user experience can result in a product that meets
specifications but fails to satisfy users.

23. THE PROBLEM WITH REQUIREMENTS
Lack of Stakeholder Engagement
(Key) Stakeholders might not be sufficiently involved in the requirements
process, leading to a final product that doesn't fully meet their needs or
expectations.

24. THE PROBLEM WITH REQUIREMENTS
Failure to Prioritize
Without clear prioritization, teams may not focus on the most critical
aspects of the project, wasting resources on less important features.

25. THE PROBLEM WITH REQUIREMENTS
Documentation Overload
Over-reliance on extensive documentation can lead to information
overload, where critical details are lost or overlooked.

26. THE PROBLEM WITH REQUIREMENTS
Limited Feedback Loops
There may be few opportunities to gather and incorporate feedback
once work has started, leading to products that are out of sync with
current user needs or market demands.

27. THE PROBLEM WITH REQUIREMENTS
Rush to solutions
A failure to maintain the proper altitude in
up-stream decisions very frequently leads
to overly prescriptive solutions that
haven’t properly been explored or
validated.

28. “If I had an hour to solve a
problem, I’d spend 55 minutes
framing the problem, and 5
minutes thinking about solutions.”
— Attributed to Albert Einstein

29. Shifting mindset

30. SHIFTING MINDSET
Requirements aren’t required
Instead, focus on driving forward an experimental mindset. A hypothesis
by nature is meant to be explored, is adaptable, and has a clear criteria
for success or failure.

31. Opportunity
Hypothesis

32. op por tu ni ty hy poth e sis
An “Opportunity Hypothesis” is a high-altitude version
of hypothesizing where the goal is to offer direction
with agility. One Opportunity Hypothesis should be
created per initiative.
WHAT IT IS

33. WHAT IT IS
Opportunity Hypothesis
All hypotheses are effectively an educated guess towards answering an
important question. Opportunity Hypotheses are specifically relevant at
high altitudes when you need to provide general direction, without
specific answers.

34. OPPORTUNITY HYPOTHESIS
Traditional Strategy

35. OPPORTUNITY HYPOTHESIS
Traditional Strategy

36. OPPORTUNITY HYPOTHESIS
Hypothesis-Driven Strategy

37. OPPORTUNITY HYPOTHESIS
Hypothesis-Driven Strategy

38. We believe _______ new experience ________
Will solve _______ problem statement ______
Enabled by ____ people, process, tools _____
Resulting in ______ behavior change _______
As measured by ________ measure ________
OPPORTUNITY HYPOTHESIS

39. OPPORTUNITY HYPOTHESIS
NEW EXPERIENCE
We believe a single, globally consistent process for managing ALL product information,
PROBLEM
Will solve for the need to better deliver product information to employees and partners,
CAPABILITIES
Enabled by a central repository for capturing product information,
OUTCOMES
Resulting in Product information that is easier for all audiences to create, find, and
understand
MEASUREMENT
As measured by 5% NPS increase, 10% Freshness index increase, 15% MOH reduction.

40. BENEFITS
Benefits include:
Vision adherence
Solutioning teams will have a clear understanding of the objectives and strategic vision through
Opportunity Hypotheses.
Alignment & Clarity
By running iterative experiments you reduce debate around the right course of action, allowing user
insights to drive strategy and capability/feature sets. Well structured hypothesis statements drive
team alignment, and make transitions between individuals and teams less prone to
misinterpretation. This also allows teams to activate faster.
Adaptation (within prescribed boundaries)
Because the vision is hypothesized, the solution is still open for exploration. This allows experiments
to determine the right outcome, within the prescribed boundaries.

41. HOW TO DEPLOY
Drafting Opportunity Hypotheses
Remember business objectives
What are key business goals? What might we change to better achieve our objectives?
Start with problems
You should already have a concise problem statement, start there.
Ideate new experiences
Remember that Opportunity Hypotheses are high altitude and should not prescribe the details of
solutions. You will hypothesize again at a later stage for exact solution details.
Articulate the end results desired and the measures of success
What is the outcome you would like to achieve? What results should Solution teams be looking to
achieve? How will they be measured on success?

42. TIPS & BEST PRACTICES
Consider the altitude/breadth of the
problem
Don’t over-solution
These statements should be very generalized, allowing for solutioning practitioners to immerse
with their audience and find “ah-ha” moments.
Remember who these are for
These hypotheses are for two audiences:
1.) Leadership
For leadership, you’re striving for alignment which can be surprisingly challenging.
2.) Solutioning teams
For solutioning teams these hypotheses should offer clarity of mission, flexibility to explore,
and clear measures of success.

43. Solution
Hypothesis

44. so lu tion hy poth e sis
A “Solution Hypothesis” is further down-stream, and is
intended for delivery teams to experiment with various
feature and capability implementations. Numerous
Solution Hypotheses are desirable at this stage, as
many will be invalidated, revised, or merged.
WHAT IT IS

45. SOLUTION HYPOTHESES
People Environment Technology Process Data
I believe that doing/building/etc. _____ new experience______
for _______________ personas impacted__________________
will achieve ___________ measurable outcome____________
I believe that doing/building/etc. _____ new experience______
for _______________ personas impacted__________________
will achieve ___________ measurable outcome____________
I believe that doing/building/etc. _____ new experience______
for _______________ personas impacted__________________
will achieve ___________ measurable outcome____________

46. SOLUTION HYPOTHESIS
NEW EXPERIENCE
We believe that offering the ability to add insights to a single shareable “worksheet”
PERSONA
for underwriters assessing difficult cases
MEASUREMENT
will achieve parity (or better) with competitive offerings.

48. BENEFITS
Benefits include:
No more playing favorites
Whether it’s a big-wig whose ideas would ordinarily go straight to delivery, or a team favorite idea,
hypothesizing eliminates preference, letting the ideas prove themselves out.
License to play
It’s amazing how much more engaged delivery teams are when they have the ability to experiment.
Even if their ideas fail in testing team members actually gain positive energy as a result. Predictably,
the final product is better as well.
Iterative proof
The final product isn’t only better because of the team’s energy, it’s better because it was iteratively
validated (or invalidated in many cases). The best hypotheses prove out and lead to better
outcomes.

49. HOW TO DEPLOY
Drafting Solution Hypotheses
Remember business objectives
This hasn’t changed. What are the business goals? What might we change to better achieve the
vision? Ground ideas here, these are your boundaries, and if an Opportunity Hypothesis was created,
it’s the perfect vehicle to understand the assignment.
Ideate new experiences
Remember the pain you felt when you weren’t allowed to think about solutions? Now is the time to let
that creative energy out. Ideally, you should look to get as many key voices as possible to come up
with hypotheses at this stage. C-suite, software developer, interior designer, customer, your status and
field doesn’t matter here, it’s about ideas.
Dress to test
Solution hypotheses are the purest of experiments, so state them as such.
Bias and smooth word-smithing will not be of any value here.

50. TIPS & BEST PRACTICES
Consider the altitude and breadth of the
problem
Use a consistent “Madlib” structure
The structure of a hypothesis statement can, and often times should, be adapted for a particular need,
altitude, or organizational silo, but once you define your structure you must ensure that all statements
maintain the same format.
Quantity is preferred
You will prioritize later, so don’t limit yourselves. It’s important to keep hypotheses distinct from one
another, but start broad before removing overlap.
Keep it concise
The temptation will be to write a paragraph for each section, that is the last thing you want.

51. Prioritize

52. CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS (CSF)
Hypothesis
Statement
Desirability
H
M
L
Viability
H
M
L
Feasibility
H
M
L
We believe allowing
customers to select their
theater seat will increase
customer satisfaction by
15%
57% of customers have
expressed a desire to have
the option of selecting their
own theater seat during
ticket purchase
H
Customer can be informed
that our recent theater
seating redesign make 82%
of our seating prime view
options
H
Online and kiosk seating
charts can be made available
at ticket purchase. Also, staff
can show in-theater ticket
purchase customers a
seating chart
M
We believe a higher price
for designated premium
seats will allow customers
more options and improve
satisfaction by 10%
30% of customers are willing
to pay a higher price for
premium seating
-
Premium seating revenue
will increase by 16% for
average ticket sales
-
Designated premium seats
be identified at ticket
purchasing, and be first
come, first served
-
A moderate Hypothesis Statement prioritization tool
This approach defines the target or details of the desirability, viability and feasibility
criteria, but still used a simple low, medium or high rating to assign value.

53. jaketruemper@shiftstl.com
+1 (314) 827-5504
keithpelkey@shiftstl.com
+1 (636) 295-0939
shiftstl.com