Visual Strawman to Relate Program RE to Project RE

Requirements Engineering (RE) of a program is closely related to that of the projects within the program. The relationships dictate timelines of the program and related projects. Further, the relationships determine the effect of Change on the program, and the intensity of risk management required to reduce program failures. Inherent complexity of RE phase forces the relationships intricate thus making program management a difficult exercise. Familiar methods to represent relationships are descriptive alphanumeric data and gantt charts. These methods are inadequate to present the Program and Project phases with their relationships in a single paradigm. Further, with the existing methods, it is difficult to present Desired and Actual states of Program and Project phases in one model. This paper presents a tested visualization technique to connect a program RE with its projects. The technique provides an easy way to represent association of program RE to project RE.