How functional approach helps manage scope of work when planning a software product.

Most people planning to develop a software product come across the statement “Good, fast, cheap. Choose two.” This statement clearly shows the limitation of the project management triangle, which does not allow you to do everything in a short time, with a limited budget and with good quality.

But in negotiations with the client, quite often, I come across the usual desire to spend less money and time, but at the same time get a good product. It almost never happens and when it does the quality often suffers. If you can’t fit everything within the given time and budget then cut down the scope. Therefore, the main question is how, under such conditions, to correctly scale down the scope and get a high-quality product. And functional analysis helps with this.

First, consider the nature of the functional approach

So, we do not need to split the product into separate components and systems (for example, user authorization, registration, profile, etc.), but we need to understand and describe what functions our product performs for the user. For example, the main function of a messenger is to transfer information from one user to another.

For complex analysis, we need to create a functional model — a graphical representation of functions that are logically connected and that consistently reveal the functionality of the analyzed product.

The FAST method (Functional Analysis System Technique, also known as Function Analysis) helps to build a functional model easily. The method is based on the use of three test questions to simplify the outlining of functions and to check the logical relationship between them.

The following diagram illustrates how a function is expanded in “How” and “Why” directions in a FAST diagram.

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