You Never Have Time to Do It Right, but You Always Have Time to Do It Again

Why poor requirements management makes your project more expensive, even though you thought you were saving time

“We don't have time to set this up properly right now.”
This is a phrase typically heard when structured requirements management is discussed. It almost sounds as if having a clear process is a luxury that might be affordable later, when there's more time.

The irony is that skipping it now almost always leads to higher costs later. As soon as misunderstandings, gaps, or unnecessary features are uncovered during development, a costly chain of rework, rescheduling, and internal justification begins. By then, it’s often too late. Developers have duplicated work, testers need to rewrite scenarios, and in the worst case, the final product fails to deliver what was actually needed.

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The famous quote, usually attributed to Edward A. Murphy Jr., sums it up:

“You never have time to do it right, but you always have time to do it again.”

And this is precisely the core of a dysfunctional requirements process. You save the effort where it hurts the least - at the very beginning - and cutting corners now means paying double later. when the errors occur later. The project progresses slowly, motivation in the team drops and costs rise. And yet nobody is surprised, because “That’s just how projects go… right?”.

But that's not true. Projects don't have to run like this.

They do if you don't take requirements seriously enough.

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Typical symptoms of poor requirements

Anyone who believes that “a few keywords in Excel” will suffice as the basis for a project will sooner or later realize that this is exactly what comes back to bite you. This is because vague, incomplete or contradictory requirements do not produce clear results, but rather a permanent room for interpretation that slows projects down.

The symptoms are almost always the same:

• Implementation takes an unnecessarily long time because developers are constantly asking questions or, in the worst case, working in the wrong direction.
• Stakeholders are disappointed because the result does not meet their expectations, even though they thought they had clearly expressed them.
• Test cases come to nothing because nobody knows what was originally intended or how it should be checked.
• Change requests get out of hand because it only becomes apparent late on what is missing or contradictory.
• And despite all the effort, despite full to-do lists and night shifts, the project is not successful; simply because the goal was never clearly described.

All these effects are not “normal project risks”, but direct consequences of inadequate requirements management. And in most cases, the cause is not a lack of knowledge, but simply a lack of time or a misunderstanding of agility.

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Why “doing it right” costs less time than “doing it again”

Good requirements management is not a bureaucratic end in itself. It is an attempt to create clarity from the outset about what is really needed and how it can be reliably implemented. It is about mastering the complexity of a project before it overwhelms you.

If you structure requirements clearly from the outset, you win on all fronts:

• Complexity becomes manageable because requirements are formulated in a comprehensible, consistent and verifiable way.
• Collaboration within the team becomes smoother because everyone has the same picture in mind instead of working with different assumptions.
• Changes can be implemented efficiently because it is clear what effects they will have.
• And testing and acceptance can be planned because it is clear what needs to be fulfilled.

The best thing about it: if you take the time to do it right, you actually save time on the bottom line: in implementation, testing and coordination.

Because a clean requirement doesn't just save minutes, it prevents entire correction loops, which are usually many times more time-consuming than a clear start.

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What does “getting it right” actually mean in requirements management?

The call for “better requirements management” often remains vague. But what does this actually mean in concrete terms in everyday project work? Essentially, it comes down to four simple but effective principles:

1. structure requirements early on
   Use templates or specialized tools such as reqSuite® rm to clearly structure requirements right from the start, for example, according to system levels, use cases or stakeholder groups.
   This creates a clear framework that provides clarity and makes subsequent changes much easier.
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2. formulate requirements precisely
   Statements such as “The system should be user-friendly” are well-intentioned, but useless.
   What does user-friendly mean? For whom? In what context?
   Formulate requirements in such a way that they can be interpreted and tested. Only then can they be implemented, without endless queries.
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3. systematically check requirements
   Errors in requirements are not uncommon, but they can be avoided.
   Use checklists, peer reviews or modern, AI-supported analyses to identify ambiguities, gaps and contradictions at an early stage. Not just when the system has already been built.
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4. versioning and tracking requirements
   Changes are part of everyday project life. But without proper traceability, every change becomes a black box.
   Good requirements management makes it possible to make every decision traceable, and to develop based on facts instead of gut feeling.

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Time pressure is not an excuse, but a reason

“We don't have time for this right now.”

A common phrase, but one that actually means exactly the opposite: if you are under time pressure, you don't have time for friction. And this is exactly what good requirements management does.

After all, the effort required to record and structure requirements properly from the outset is significantly less than the sum of the corrections that will be necessary later on if it has not been done properly. A lot of overtime, hectic coordination and costly rework are not caused by too little working time - but by unclear requirements.

And yes, in overworked teams, the thought of improving requirements management now can quickly seem like an extra effort. But it doesn't have to be. It can also be done gradually and pragmatically:

1. you don’t need a full-blown overhaul – just a smart starting point
   You don't have to turn everything upside down at once. Start where the biggest pain lies, for example, with requirements that are constantly misunderstood or review rounds that don't help.
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2. work with real tools instead of Word and Excel
   Say goodbye to copy-paste chaos. Use tools like reqSuite® rm that help you to capture requirements in a structured, consistent and reusable way, instead of starting from scratch every time.
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3. avoid recurring errors automatically
   Modern tools already offer you integrated AI functions for quality assurance. This means that unclear, duplicate or contradictory requirements are automatically detected, before they become a real problem.
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4. step by step instead of with a project week
   You don't have to wait for the big leap in maturity. Even a compact coaching session or an online workshop can be the decisive impetus, and will help you make noticeable progress.

The time you invest up front saves hours down the line:

In the form of clearer tasks, less coordination, faster releases, and above all: less stress in your day-to-day project work.

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Do you want to get out of the loop of misunderstandings, queries and rework?

‍Then talk to us. We'll show you how to achieve better results in less time with pragmatic requirements management.