Hierarchy of descriptions of DONE

The Five process areas of a successful project or program are.

There is a hierarchy for applying of these principles:

1. Needs, Goals, and Objectives - business direction based on higher level objectives.
2. Business Unit requirements - structure, relationships, governing principles, and inter-business unit mission linked to the accomplishment of the needs, goals, and objectives.
3. Business Unit Requirements - high level requirements flowed to the program to carry out the strategic and architectural direction including programmatic and technical aspects for initiation of specific projects in the business unit.
4. Program Requirements - detailed requirements for a Program to implement the Program Plan and flow downs to requirements allocated to specific project elements.
5. Project Requirements - detailed requirements for a Project implementation allocated to the technical and operational elements.
6. System Requirements - detailed requirements allocated from a Project to the next lower level of the system elements.

This approach builds a line of sight traceability from the lower level technical elements to the Mission of the Program to produce needed capabilities.

Some would suggest that emergent requirements are the way to go, with self directed team. But when spending someone else's money, the answer to why are you doing this needs an answer connected to the desired capabilities resulting from the work effort.