Wednesday, December 31, 2014


A vibrant evening in the company of well known Director, Actor, Writer and Producer Mr. Mahesh Manjrekar and Mr. Agnelorajesh Athaide Chairman and Managing Director St Angelo's Professional Education and now also an Author

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Rajdeep Sardesai (Breaking Views) ~ by : Niilesh A Raje



If we were asked to name some prominent news anchor who presented to us with “News @ 9” there are quite few names that would come in our mind and Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai (Currently: Consulting Editor, India Today Group) obviously would be one amongst them.
 
Be it covering the breaking news that covers an attack to the nation or having strong political debate in the newsroom or speaking to an IIT Topper one must admire the passion and pride with Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai has been doing it brimming with confidence. What I have appreciated in this individual is not only the way he would present us with the news but also create an equal interest over the subject in the minds and hearts of the viewers. One of his biggest strengths I would say is intonation - the rise and fall in the pitch of his voice and his ability to probe questions and then later getting into the heart of the story.

Today, Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai is not only India’s Top Journalists but also an author of his recently released book titled, “2014 - The Election That Changed India”. In the recent past I had the opportunity to meet this prolific news anchor over freewheeling chat.

For this week I would like to share short piece on Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai a well-known name in Indian electronic media.


Early Aspirations

They say, “Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans”. While young Rajdeep was very much found of playing cricket. His father Late Dilip Sardesai was a prominent Indian Test Cricketer in the 1960’s. His Mother Nandini Sardesai worked as a Professor of Sociology at St. Xavier's College in Mumbai.

Rajdeep always loved playing cricket and represented while playing at University level. It’s here he had close interaction with well-known right handed middle order batsman Mr. Sanjay Manjrekar. While Mr. Manjrekar went ahead in life with International Cricket whereas Rajdeep created his own identity in the field of Journalism.

Education / Career

Before getting into journalism Rajdeep aspired to become a lawyer. He first completed his Bachelor's Degree Course in Economics from St. Xavier's College. Post which he went to England to study in Oxford University and acquired the following degrees namely Master of Arts (M.A.) and Bachelor of Laws (L.L.B.).

On his return from England in the year 1988 he decided to start his career as a lawyer by practicing law in India. But destiny had its own plans for Rajdeep. It was around the same time while Rajdeep was contemplating “Lawyer” as his profession he had the opportunity to meet the eminent journalist and the current editor then of “The Times of India” (TOI) Mr. Dileep Padgaonkar.

Rajdeep, being a compulsive reader and writer the thought of joining TOI appealed to him. Initially he started writing for TOI and later worked there for brief period of six years and was the city editor of its Mumbai Edition.

I was fortunate to enter into the field of journalism at a time when there were many events and happenings taking place within our country. Had there not been any major upheavals taking place in the country however any journalist may aspire to write the fact remains what is that topic the journalist would choose and amplify their thoughts that shall appeal to the voice of the readers. Rajdeep admits destiny was kind enough which allowed him come into the field of journalism at an opportune time which gave him immense opportunities to amplify on his strengths and competencies.



Parents Influence

Rajdeep’s, parents especially his Mother who was Professor was cognizant that their son was always a good student who loved to take part in debates and dramas. He had a flair for General Knowledge and always searched for answers beyond what the textbooks could offer and that too at a very young age. One thing evident was his thirst for knowledge was always growing as he was keen to know more about the world and surroundings.

What would be the future of his chosen craft namely “Television Journalism” was something even his parents were not much aware about. All they could do at that point of time was to believe in his strengths and motivate him on his voyage of discovery.

Rajdeep Sardesai is a successful name today but there were risks he took and dare to achieve it. The point of time when he decided to leave NDTV and start his own venture “CNN IBN” his parents were apprehensive as he was already doing well in his career path. However, as Rajdeep wanted to follow his dreams his parents allowed him to take the risk and go that extra mile.

Rajdeep has also been the President of the Editors Guild of India the only Television Journalist to hold the post and was also chosen as a Global leader for tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in 2000.


Commitment towards Craft

Rajdeep Sardesai's commitment towards his chosen craft is commendable. He is workaholic and works round-the-clock to achieve prominence and excellence. Reading relates to his mind as much as exercise relates to his body. Never complacent despite his near stardom status. He firmly believes when there is work it must be completed and there are times when Rajdeep doesn't take his weekly offs.

He believes in precision to details and in his farewell letter written to IBN 18 staff he says, "Am sorry if I would occasionally call at 3 am in the morning. Blame it on being a news junkie. And remember, every time there is a spelling mistake on the ticker, my ghost will haunt you”. 

I would love to sum up my piece in his words, “I guess certain things in life are written in the stars. Editorial independence and Integrity have been articles of faith in 26 years in journalism and maybe I am too old now to change!

For all the book lover’s reading the first book “2014 - The Election That Changed India” from one of the country’s most recognized and respected journalists Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai would be indeed enlightening.

Happy Reading!!!

More in the “New Year”. More in the morrow . . .

Monday, December 15, 2014

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1000 Week Celebrations) ~ by : Niilesh A Raje



Last week Friday (12th December 2014) the movie "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" completed 1000 weeks of successful running at Mumbai's Maratha Mandir theatre. The single screen that came into the limelight after it ran 'Mughal-e-Azam' for eight years and today it has broken its own record by running “Dilwale” for nineteen years continuously. A story that redefined love.

To commemorate 1000 weeks of romance a book was released on this occasion titled, “Aditya Chopra Relives . . . Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” published by Yash Raj Films Pvt. Ltd. Director Aditya Chopra was just 24 years of age when “Dilwale” was released on Diwali 20th October 1995. One can only realize the creativity exhibited by this young boy then.

There are many interesting anecdotes that are given in his book and I take this opportunity to share some of them in my piece.

“Dilwale” or “DDLJ”

Well, whenever Director Aditya Chopra speaks of the movie he calls it as “Dilwale” and not “DDLJ”. Title being too long with passage of time “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” became “DDLJ” amongst the masses. Not that Aditya has any objection or gets offended with this but for him it’s like a nickname someone else has given to your child. It’s just that he has always referred to the film as “Dilwale” and continues to do so. It was Kirron Kher who suggested the movie’s title.




Come Fall In Love

Love is a singular experience being plurally felt witnessing delicate merger of two souls. Love is something one always aspires for and for some these aspirations do come true while for other’s they end up coming out of the woods of a broken heart.

It could be possible that in real life your love is forbidden to you or one may not be able to express it openly in the public or otherwise to that someone special. But on the silver screen one can experience it all. Romance in Cinema provides that dream space.

With “Dilwale” Director Aditya Chopra wanted Raj and Simran to be seen as lovers that many people would always aspire to be. Hey, I want to be like this man Shahrukh in my love or otherwise. Post watching the movie that thought has to be registered that every guy would love to have Simran in his life while every girl would aspire to have her Raj in her life. Aditya Chopra admired Raj Kapoor for his work so much that Shahrukh (Raj Malhotra) was called as Raj throughout the movie.

If we observe this romantic movie not even once did Raj or Simran said “I Love You” to each other. On the contrary it was pretty evident they both have fallen in love with each other. In the scene where Simran invites Raj for her wedding Shahrukh says, “Main Nahin Aaunga” (I won’t come for your wedding). When a girl invites you for her wedding it’s very unlikely a guy would refuse the invitation. It was in fact Raj’s style to convey it to Simran “I Love You” hence I won’t come to be part of your vibrant wedding celebration.

Palat Palat Palat

The dialogue where we see Shahrukh saying Palat Palat Palat was something Director Aditya admits to have copied the same from Clint Eastwood 1993 thriller titled In the Line of Fire. There is a scene where in Eastwood sees his love walk away and then says to himself “turn”. The idea was there in Aditya’s mind for long and while writing the scene it came back to him. He liked the idea and decided to use it in his script.

The shooting for this was scheduled at King’s Cross Station in the evening and weather was cold in there in London. So Aditya Chopra who was wearing the brown jacket lent the same to Shahrukh which can be seen in this movie in the “Palat” scene.

The Facts Remain  

The entire screenplay was written in twelve days. The filming of DDLJ took place over sixty-seven non consecutive days. The whole movie was made in a budget of three crore rupees. For many years Dilwale was the most successful Indian film abroad. With the profits earned with Dilwale it allowed the Chopra’s to buy land in Andheri West where the Yash Raj Films studios stand today.

For the Director of Photography (DOP) the choice decided was Manmohan Singh (Manji). He shared close association with Yash Ji and had shot most of his films. Not even once he made Aditya Chopra the young boy of 24 years feel that he was inexperienced. Today, Manji has stopped photographing films in Mumbai and is now a leading film director in Punjabi Cinema.

The musical hit “Dilwale” was the good work from the duo Jatin Lalit who gave most unforgettable scores. The mahurat shot in this movie was Simran’s introduction. While for Amrish Puri (Baldev Singh’s) shop they wanted to do the shoot at Southhall. However, on the day of the shooting there was massive crowd gathered who had come to see the shooting making it impossible to complete the shoot. The scene was later filmed in a petrol pump station shop on some motorway. And I still remember while I first saw the movie in theatre with my dear friend people screaming Shahrukh with his entry in Dilwale.

The song "Tujhe Dekha To" fetched lyrics writer Anand Bakshi his Filmfare Award. The movie “Dilwale” set the record at its time for the most Filmfare awards won by a single film with ten in all. Aditya knew that Bakshi Saab’s words have power and was very important person out here. However, post ten days had passed and at least fifty of Bakshi Saab’s mukhdas were already rejected.

Bakshi Saab said, “Adi, I’m not able to meet your expectations. I’m not sure if I would be the right person for you. You better replace me with someone else. However, Aditya knew it was Bakshi Saab only who could get the work done here and to the final projections. There was nothing wrong with the mukhdas but they were just not apt for the girl Simran is what Aditya felt. The day Bakshi Saab came up with this line, “Ussse Kaho Jaaye Chaand Leke Aaye, Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye” the things took a different turn for both Bakshi Saab as well as Aditya.

Not that I have covered all the anecdotes in my piece but I am positive for all the fans of “Dilwale” reading this Aditya Chopra’s book full of interesting anecdotes would be indeed enlightening. Reading the anecdote and then watching the movie again would be a different experience all together. Come Fall In Love. When Raj(e) met Simran Love Was Never The Same . . .




Monday, December 8, 2014

Arianna Huffington (Forbes List Most Influential Women) by: Niilesh A Raje



When you wake up in the morning, don't start your day by looking at your smartphone. Take one minute - trust me, you do have one minute - to breathe deeply, or be grateful or set your intention for the day. ~ Arianna Huffington


One day while I was reading some of the motivational quotes over the internet I happened to read the above quote by Arianna Huffington which not only made a favorable impression on my mind but also set me thinking.

Technically speaking what Arianna quotes does makes sense in today’s world of malls, multiplexes and social media. Not checking your smartphone for longer hours for many of us is like a feeling of a fish with no water. Smartphones today have become an absolute addiction for many.

Before I pen down my short piece and excerpts of my chat I had with Arianna let me first give short introduction on the personality under consideration.

Arianna Huffington is the Co-founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Huffington Post, a nationally syndicated Columnist, and Author of fourteen books. In 2009, Huffington was named as number 12 in Forbes first-ever list of the Most Influential Women in Media and as of 2014 she is still listed as the most powerful Woman in the world by Forbes. She is best known for her news website The Huffington Post. In 2003, she ran as an Independent Candidate for Governor in the California recall election.

With Arianna Huffington currently being in India I took this opportunity to meet her over freewheeling chat. It was only yesterday that AOL owned news website Huffington Post launched its India edition in partnership with The Times of India Group.




Here is the excerpt of my chat with the lady in the position of prominence none other than Arianna Huffington.

Question: Arianna, Welcome to India!!!. Well, my question to you being it’s an observation that even when a family goes out for dinner in a good restaurant instead of spending some quality time with your loved one’s over dinner table one can see that each member of the family is deeply engrossed in checking their emails, their facebook accounts or chatting with friends over WhatsApp till the time the dinner arrives and at times checking emails still continues. Why this addiction to social media?

Response: Thanks. Well, when we founded The Huffington Post in 2005 within two years we were growing at an incredible pace. I was on the cover of magazines and had been chosen by Time Magazine's as one of the world’s Most Influential Women. I was working hard eighteen hours a day for seven days a week trying to build a business and expand our reach. It was on 6th April 2007 while on my way down my head hit the corner of the desk cutting my eye and breaking my cheekbone. After my fall I asked myself, “Was this what success looks like?”

We as individuals keep on following the latest trends technology offers us. Today, Smartphones are getting cheaper so also the number of Facebook users seems to be growing exponentially. The Desktop’s have been replaced by Mobiles giving us instant connection and responses from every one spread across the globe. Those days of delayed response getting back home switching ON your computer are all over in today’s age of social media. We all love instant responses.

Also, when we see that only 13% of battery life is remaining on our smartphone we get anxious and stop all our work only to go, hunt or borrow smartphone chargers. We are petrified of being left alone without our smartphone. Renowned Greek Mathematician had said, "Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the earth.”

In the hustle and bustle of our daily routine the cycles of life keep moving on. It’s one’s very own experience that enriches our life. Well, one must enjoy that quality time with your loved one’s rather than being glued to your smartphone. A good sleep is an absolute must for every individual and for us to be creative. One must understand that we as human being are not meant to be up 99.9% all the time and the world does not come to an end if we keep our smartphone away or switched off for couple of hours.

Yes, social media is an addiction but it’s we who are the Chief of our life. We must be matured enough to get the pulse of what’s more important to us. Good Sleep or being glued to your smartphone all day long.

Arianna, Thank you so much for the time you gave to me on your visit here in India. Here’s wishing you and the whole crew of The Huffington Post All The Very Best for the launch of your India edition. We are positive it would indeed be a voyage of discovery.

Before I call halt for now I would like to sum it up by another beautiful quote from Arianna, "If we charge our phones by our beds we are going to be tempted if we wake up in the middle of the night for whatever reason to look at our data. And when we look at incoming emails and texts we are allowing our day life to intrude into our night life, the time when we are recharging and our sleep is not as deep and recharging as it needs to be."  

Happy Reading!!! 

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Sachin Tendulkar : Playing It My Way (My Autobiography) ~ by : Niilesh A Raje



Author       
Sachin Tendulkar (Co-Writer : Boria Majumdar)
Publisher  
Hachette India Private Limited
Pages
497
Price
Rs 899/-
ISBN
1473605202



It reminds me how the Champion NBA player Kobe Bryant of Los Angeles Lakers once responded in an interview, "There are certain people that have a tremendous hunger. There are certain people that have a will, determination and hunger that you need to be the best in the world. Those people and those people alone become champions." Sachin Tendulkar has been no exception. He puts in all his blood loves playing the game of cricket with meraki. Other word for Sachin I could think off immediately at this point of time being altitudinarian. 

Last week while I was back home from work switched on the television to watch news while having my dinner the only thing that was shown on all the news channels for extended length of time was the coveted book launch the autobiography of the greatest batsmen of all times holding the title "God of Cricket" namely Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. Publisher Hachette India has come up with his autobiography titled Sachin Tendulkar: Playing It My Way. Even today’s new movie releases would not get so much electronic media coverage as much as this star studded book launch got it which was followed by panel discussions.

Let me take this opportunity to pen down the book review on Sachin Tendulkar’s latest book his autobiography.

His Father’s Words

Born to a Maharashtrian family in Mumbai’s based in Bandra Sahitya Sahawas Colony having two brothers and a sister and Sachin being the youngest. His father, Ramesh Tendulkar was an acclaimed Marathi poet, critic and professor while his mother Rajani worked for the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) office based in Santacruz.   

The very first chapter in this book titled “Childhood” talks about the words of his father that are registered in his mind even today. If you remain humble, people will give you love and respect even after you have finished with the game. As a parent, I would be happier hearing people say, “Sachin is a good human being” than “Sachin is a great cricketer”.

The teaching and upbringing from his parents and blessings he receives from his fans spread across the globe makes him the admired and respected personality.

Love can’t be arranged it just happens (The Best Partnership)



The book would not be complete if there is no reference to his wife Anjali the best partnership of his life who has been with him always in his best as well as bad times - Anjali Mehta becomes Anjali Tendulkar. It was on Sachin’s 21st Birthday that they both engaged.

The curiosity factor always remains in the eyes of the common masses how and where Anjali met his better half. Well, Sachin had just landed in Mumbai from the 1990 tour of England and was waiting to pick up his bags when he saw an extremely attractive woman looking down from the viewing gallery in the airport. Anjali was wearing an orange T-shirt and blue jeans. While coming out of the airport his dear friend Sachin Harshe said softly in ear’s of Sachin that a very good looking girl was calling his name and was very keen to meet him. But, with his brothers Ajit and Nitin around Sachin was too apprehensive to speak or meet Anjali in person. The fact is love can’t be arranged it just happens.

Comprehensive Autobiography

A very interesting and comprehensive autobiography I must say with interesting anecdotes. Those were the days when Sachin was not out on 94 at the end of the first day. Just few days before this match Sachin had invited his mentor Mr. Ramakant Achrekar at his home for dinner. Sir, agreed for his dinner invitation but only on the day when Sachin would score his first hundred in school cricket. The next day Sachin who was not out on 94 on day one scored his hundred and true to his words Mr. Achrekar came to Sachin’s home for dinner that night which was the most satisfying moment for him.   
  
The book has been supplemented with many colored pictures including the notes of his speech that Sachin carried with him on his last day in International Cricket. What I like about Sachin is apart from the profound respect he has towards his parents it’s also the reverence he has towards many individuals that came in his life especially to sum it up in his own words his Sir Mr. Ramakant Achrekar. When people get exalted success the tendency is to get carried away and forget one’s own mentor which is not healthy. Well, experience enriches our life and we should learn from such role models in the journey of our life.

To the voice of all my readers Happy Reading !!! Sachin Tendulkar: Playing It My Way. I do hope you all find reading his autobiography enlightening as much as I did. To sum it up in Sachin's own words it is his life between 22 yards for 24 years.

Monday, November 3, 2014

Rajesh Khanna: Massive Success, Bloated Ego and Dramatic Downfall ~ By : Niilesh A Raje



At the beginning I would like to Thank all my readers and the lover’s of Bollywood for their kind words of appreciation and suggestion on different personalities on whom I should pen down my future articles. Your observations motivate me to read more, research more and amplify my thoughts my emotions over the written word.

Last month I wrote a small piece on the Living Legend and the Superstar of the Millennium Mr. Amitabh Bachchan. So many books have been authored on Big B and would be in the future as well. But, when I learnt in recent times that Gautam Chintamani (author) has now come up with his first book titled, Dark Star - The Loneliness of Being Rajesh Khanna a HarperCollins Publication what intrigued me is the fact why there had not been many books written earlier on India’s first Superstar Rajesh Khanna. The reasons might be innumerable however I am glad that author Gautam Chintamani with his deep research and prolific writing made efforts to come up with his first book on Rajesh Khanna. Gautam is a born cinephile and also a popular columnist across many leading National Publications. In a short chat with the author and post reading his book an impressive read I take this opportunity to pen down a short summary review of his own book.





At this juncture it also reminds me of the wonderful lyrics and the song casted on the Superstar Rajesh Khanna, "Chand Taaron Se Chalna Hai Aage Asmaanon Se Badna Hai Aage  Pichhe Reh Jayega Yeh Zamana Yahan Kal Kya Ho Kisne Jaana  Zindagi Ek Safar Hai Suhana  Yahan Kal Kya Ho Kisne Jaana”. Lyricist Hasrat Jaipuri fetched the Filmfare Award for this lovely number.

Rajesh Khanna (Massive Success, Bloated Ego and Dramatic Downfall)

If today we were to relate this number to Rajesh Khanna was it a mere coincidence that this song was casted on him or was it that Almighty was giving him indications on his journey ahead in tinseltown. To me the name Rajesh Khanna registers three things in my mind: His massive success, bloated ego and the dramatic downfall. Mind the sequence success, ego and then downfall. Were they all interlinked? I thought so “Yes” but not until the author Gautam and his book provided me deeper insight and convincing response.

Early Days and Massive Success

“Superstar” the word was coined by the media for Rajesh Khanna. With seventeen massive hits to his credits in a short span of just over four years Khanna felt this phase would remain for eternity. He was originally born as Jatin Khanna to middle class parents and was later adopted by rich relatives who brought him up like a prince. His adoptive Mother wouldn’t allow anyone to go anywhere near his room in the morning till Kaka woke up on his own. Even when it came to going to school it was the man himself Rajesh Khanna more than anyone else who would decide whether he wanted to attend the classes or not. He used to tell his friends if he asked for five rupees he would get ten from his parents. The time when Rajesh Khanna won the Filmfare United Producers Combine Talent Hunt, as a struggler he was already famous as person who drove an imported sports car. The impact of his success was so much that short anecdote from the book says, While Khanna was shooting for “Prem Kahani” at Mithibai College a fakir in the vicinity went about begging for alms from the crowd not in the name of the Almighty but in the name of the Superstar then Rajesh Khanna. Such was the hysteria generated by the Superstar then amongst the common masses.      

Bloated Ego

First it was his massive success then came in his bloated ego and how one’s exalted ego can bring down an individual from success to mediocrity a lesson we must learn looking at the life and times of Rajesh Khanna. It’s rightly said, “Where love enters ego takes the exit and where ego enters love takes the exit”.
However, if one does read this book closely coupled with good research done by the author it can be distinctly seen that the man's ego was not a by-product of his success. On the contrary the ego was always there and as large as ever.

It can be read in the book, Shyam Keswani, the lawyer introduced to Khanna by Shakti Samanta, is certain that even if Rajesh Khanna had ventured into business had been a railway contractor or even clerk for that matter his ego would have still remained the same. Rajesh Khanna was always impetuous and people got the pulse it was more especially after the string of hits post his movie Aradhana. “Success changed the attitude towards him and as long as hits were piling up no one seemed to mind his brashness.”





Dramatic Downfall

Looking at the picture above one thing is quite evident that time does change many aspects and priorities of one’s life. Not all days in one’s life are similar and so were they in the life of the Superstar Rajesh Khanna. There was a time where everything he touched into gold now came in the phase when everything he touched turned into dust. His imported cars were exchanged for Maruti 800 and his 555s were replaced with Gold Flake. He hoped Politics would give his life new direction but to no avail as a new and more dependable individual was seen then in Sunil Dutt. Khanna's role as Father in the 1999 release "Aa Ab Laut Chalen" wasn't widely applauded at box office as there was Mr. Amitabh Bachchan's Mohabbatein year 2000 release that fetched Big B his Filmfare Award for the Best Supporting Actor.

Admire the good writing, the patience and deep research it took for the author Gautam to come up with his debut book on this superstar Rajesh Khanna. The book is indeed a wonderful tribute by the author that covers the odyssey of Rajesh Khanna spread across four decades which had swept the nation at one point of time. Rajesh Khanna reached heights which nobody had done before him.

Lessons Learnt

There are many interesting lesson's one can learn post reading the book and by going through the life and times of Rajesh Khanna. To sum it up with a song from Khanna's very own movie, "Aap Ki Kasam" - Zindagi Ke Safar Mein Guzar Jaate Hai Jo Makaam Woh Phir Nahin Aate (We can never revisit the milestones we leave behind in the journey of life). However, big or small one’s achievements might be it would be always ideal to remain down to earth. Success and ego never goes hand in hand. One might win on their ego but eventually you are still a looser and you loose ahead in the battles of life eventually ending up disturbing one’s happy home. Be it the loneliness of being a superstar or be it a common mass ego leads you no where. Rightly coined by Kabir, “Speak without ego it will calm you and comfort others.” Zindagi Ka Safar Hai Ye Kaisa Safar . . . Koi Samjha Nahin Koi Jaana Nahin . . .     

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Who Decides the Project Requirements? ~ by : Niilesh A Raje

Article had been published earlier with the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) headquartered in Toronto, Canada and Better Projects , Australia



                             Every Project Has Requirements 


I am sure most of us would agree that “Every Project Has Requirements”. Every time a new software application is being developed explicitly or implicitly there is always a ‘Business Analyst’ (BA) from the project team who performs the role of requirements gathering for every software project. While some requirements are crucial to the application others are considered to be gold-plated luxuries.

Determining the project requirements is vital in developing successful software as they form an agreement between the IT team, the customers and various stakeholders on what features are absolutely essential to be delivered in the new system.

Requirements just don’t come from one source but multiple stakeholders. In this article I would like to touch upon some key pointers which are essential and indispensable for business analysis. What each stakeholder’s view is when it comes to determining software project requirements and who owns them?


Requirements Stakeholders



From the above figure it is evident that software requirements just don’t come from the customer. Requirements come in from all directions which include: Customers, Business Analyst, Pre Sales Team, Project Manager, Development Team and QA team. It’s imperative that one identifies at the beginning of the project who takes the ownership for defining the project requirements. If this is not resolved in the early stages of the project then the ownership falls on the vendor or the requirements later then form to be a part of change request.


Customers: Are They Always Right

Anyone who derives direct or indirect benefit from a product or service offered is a customer. It’s not necessary that the customer may be always right. However, the customer has a viewpoint and one must understand and respect customer’s viewpoints rather than forcing other stakeholders to determine among the customers who may not necessarily agree with conflicting project requirements.

As a software customer one would be primarily responsible for the following activities:

  1. Customers at times believe that the analyst or the member from the development team should already know what the customers need. Defining business requirements is not the ownership of the customer but the project team.

  1. It would be ideal if the analyst is given the pulse of the current systems and processes coupled with existing documents to educate them about customer’s business concepts and terminology.

  1. Customers usually don’t find it significant to invest time with the project team for requirements gathering or elicitation activities.  Sometimes customers get so busy with their key responsible areas at work that they usually don’t give justice to the requirements gathering activity and the requirements gets captured just on assumptions.

Customer needs to prioritize what requirements are crucial and critical to the project. Requirements, which are vital, need to be delivered on priority whereas those that are good to have features can be delivered phase wise. Customers have to understand that not all requirements can be given at the same time. Phase wise delivery would be ideal.

Business Analyst: Catalyst for Requirements

The Business Analyst holds the primary responsibility to elicit, analyze, validate, specify, verify, and manage the real needs of the project stakeholders, including customers and end users. The requirements analyst serves as a catalyst between the customer and the software development team and is responsible to bring all the stakeholders to a common level of understanding.

A Business Analyst would serve as an agent and views requirements from the following angle:

  1. Apart from requirement gathering, interviewing the users they would be responsible to create prototypes or wire frames to demonstrate a non-working model to the customers. Customer can get a fair idea looking at the wire frames how the proposed solution would look like.

  1. For any queries or concerns towards any aspect of the planned project activity it is appropriate that a BA defines a clear process in identifying the key points of contact in the project engagement with proper escalation mechanism.

  1. Business Analyst (BA) analyses, documents, manage and presents the project requirements for review and approval to the customer in a most comprehensible manner. Analyst should communicate to the customer in the early stages of the project the standard templates and requirement management tools they would adhere to in order to document the requirements specifications.

  1. For a BA getting a requirements sign-off would mean a formal agreement with the project stakeholders, stating that the contents of the requirements document, as drafted, are complete to the final projections and that there are no open issues left to be addressed. It is an expression of the output of requirements gathering to all those concerned with the project.

Pre Sales Team: Before Development Starts

Requirements given by the pre sales consultant many times conflict with what the developers think and they could build. The problem here is only a high level input is provided from the consultant having not much visibility of the product to be developed.

A Pre Sales Consultant would usually view the project requirements from the following angle:

  1. They conduct requirement analysis and pre-assignment studies at customer’s location by giving product demonstration and walkthroughs to prospective clients, resolving pre-sales issues and handling questions differentiating our product from other competitors.

  1. Pre sales are also responsible to respond to prospective customer questions and observations. They educate customers and prospects understanding the benefits of the product.

  1. Provide help in giving feedback to stakeholders regarding the product features and functions and ensure that the product offered best matches the customer needs.

  1. Once a particular product is successfully implemented the pre sales view the project requirements in identifying sales opportunity for the product, prepare proposal documents and market the same in competitors market falling under the same vertical or domain.

Project Manager: A Quantitative Analysis
   
Project Manager’s view to invest more efforts of the project plan for software development rather than giving adequate time frame for gathering software requirements. Project manager’s view requirements by doing a quantitative analysis and its associated impact on the project plan.

Some of the challenges faced as far as requirements go from a Management View as are follows

  1. Project Manager would view requirements in terms of the cost of the resources involved and the time frame it would take to implement functionality
    in line with the defined standards and control processes. 

  1. Requirements serve as the baseline for a successful project design. Project Manager should ensure that the resource who would be dealing with requirement gathering should have some hands on experience in requirements engineering practices and that the same is well understood and well communicated.

  1. Project Managers have to ensure that as and when one incorporates new project requirements is the project team able to still stick to their original schedule as per the available resources. If not then they should immediately renegotiate on project commitments wherever there is a change in the requirements.

  1. Managers need to thoroughly review the project documents prepared by the analysts and should there be a discrepancy they should communicate the same in the early stages of the project itself otherwise it would result only in re-work and detrimentally effecting the on going project delivery.  

Development Team: Requirements to code

Developers are those members of the community who are more inclined as well as responsible for writing and coding individual programmes from specific requirements.
After review they interpret written business requirements and technical specification documents and perform coding.


  1. Developers view the requirements from a technical angle in terms of data dictionary, tables, user interface, reports formats, integration etc. When questions like these are raised during the time of requirement gathering they witness a total disconnect because not at all business users are technically educated. Discussions like these only dilute the interest level of the conversation.

  1. Ambiguity in requirements results in waste of time and developers end up developing a solution, which does not meet up with the customer’s requirements.

  1. Developers at times end up giving more than what is required by the customer in an attempt to please them with “gold plated” functionality. One should deliver only what has been asked for and anything extra that is delivered should be given only with prior customer approval.

  1. Some features required by a customer may have technical limitations and the turn around time required to implement the same may also be quite high. Certain new requirements can detrimentally effect the performance of the existing functionality. To avoid such cost of re-work a requirements stakeholder should respect the developer’s view of the requirements.    
  
QA Team: A benchmark of quality


Well-defined project requirements should enable the QA team to develop accurate test cases to verify the functionality under consideration. It is vital that the testing team be involved in the project from the requirements elicitation milestone.

The quality team views the requirements from the following aspect.

  1. What ever may be the requirements the quality team would view for the following key attributes which includes the system’s performance, response time, handling load, transactions of the system and much more.

  1. After studying the business requirements and review of the specifications the testing team starts with planning, designing, and executing tests cases for features that need to be released upon customer’s requests.

  1. Where developers may have developed in one way the testers expect the product to behave differently from what the developers have developed as per acceptance criteria.

Some times very little time is given for the testing team to test the solution. In case the project is running behind schedule the testing milestone may be not given due importance.


Conclusion

From the above it can be seen that different stakeholders interpret project requirements in different ways. Each one of them is right in their very own way and each one of them has their viewpoints from their own angle. For the success of the project what is more important is to have all the stakeholders of the project brought to a common level of understanding and work in synergy. It's better to identify in the early stages of the project who from the customer's end would take business decisions on project requirements so as go ahead smoothly with the next planned project activity.