General
(It's okay to be just 80% complete in Analysis for a large or complex project. Get the rest later to avoid the diminishing returns effect.)
_____ The Analysis has been validated by examination of the Concept to see that it's fully supported.
_____ Any improvements to the Concept due to discovery in Analysis have been made.
_____ The Analysis has been fully validated by appropriate customers, management and developers.
_____ The problem is now sufficiently understood.
_____ If a multi-developer project, the Analysis has been published so as to be easily available to all, and for possible use later in process improvement.
_____ The Analysis reflects reality and is not a wish list. It contains no gold plating unless identified.
_____ The customer has been interviewed at length to determine the initial Key High Level Goals, Use Case, Traits and Risks.
_____ Additional items have been added to the preceding collection by the analyst.
Key High Value Goals
(These are crucial to customer satisfaction. For some project types a customer representative will do)
_____ You have not too many nor too few goals. Follow the 80/20 rule. Usually 2 to 10 is fine.
_____ The set of goals adds crisp focus to the entire remaining related steps.
_____ If you achieved all the goals the customer would be absolutely thrilled.
Use Cases
(A Use Case is an actor using a system to perform a series of steps to achieve a goal.)
_____ All significant actors were identified first.
_____ You've taken the time to find all Use Cases, even those not mentioned by the customer.
_____ So many Use Cases were initially listed that some were discarded or combined.
_____ Structured Brainstorming was used to identify Use Cases if a large or complex project.
_____ All non-obvious Use Cases have been stepped out. (All steps are listed and explained)
_____ Use Case branching, reuse and sub Use Cases has been used as necessary.
_____ If over 20 the Use Cases are carefully organized and easily navigated.
_____ A simulation walkthrough has been done proving the Use Cases to be correct and complete.
_____ The Uses Cases are from the customer's point of view, in their language.
_____ No "technical" Use Cases are included without identifying them as such. (A technical Use Case applies to internal behavior of the system, such as how an algorithm behaves or a database is connected.)
_____ The flavor of the Use Cases is what to do, not how to do it.
_____ You've used your list of Standard Use Cases for this domain.
_____ Your knowledgebase of Standard Use Cases is current.
_____ An Action Response grid has been created if the Use Cases are inadequate in some areas.
Traits
(A Trait is system behavior that affects some or all Use Cases, such as Ease of Use, Speed and Reliability.)
_____ There are no vague traits. For example if Ease of Use is included it is quantified or explained in detail.
_____ You've used your list of Standard Traits for this domain.
_____ Your knowledgebase of Standard Traits is current.
Risk Management
(This involves risk identification and resolution.)
_____ All significant risks have been identified.
_____ If over 10 the risks have been ranked.
_____ All top level risks have been resolved or will receive a special task soon to do this.
_____ All unresolved risks can be easily allocated to certain later tasks for resolution.
_____ You've used your list of Standard Risks for this domain.
_____ Your knowledgebase of Standard Risks is current.