My manager told me the project's release manager wanted me to attend a meeting. They were trying to determine what the contents of the next major software release would be. That sounded good to me.A VIP from the customer organization seemed to be driving the meeting. He was pitching the release to the business customers. I was not sure why I was invited to such a meeting.
We took a break. I called up the release manager. I asked him whether we would be able to get down to the requirements details in meeting. He said the requirements had been gathered. I explained that although somebody wrote down some requirements specifications, we still did not know exactly what the customer wanted.
I gave the manager a prime example. Then I posed some questions related to the sample requirements. He said the requirements manager was in the room with him. Of course she could not answer the question I had posed. Then I informed the release manager that there were a lot of requirements like that. Nobody knows the details yet. We can't plan until we know what it is that we are supposed to deliver. In the end, the meeting was adjourned before my questions could be answered. Translation - I got to attend some future meetings. Not good.
