Co-authored by Richard Larson

One of the most difficult tasks project managers and business analysts face is obtaining customer requirements. Even when business customers and the business analyst work in the same building, misunderstandings are bound to arise. And as more and more businesses expand beyond their borders, different terminology and ways of doing things the risk of things going awry gets even greater. It's a challenge to ask the right questions, get the right people involved, and document unambiguous requirements, regardless of the backgrounds of those participating. When the project includes multi-cultural stakeholders, particularly if they comprise a virtual team working in geographically dispersed areas, often thousands of miles, time zones and oceans apart, the job becomes much harder.

The idea for building a colossal dam in the southern part of Egypt had been considered by the country's president Gamal Abdel Nasser since the mid-fifties. There was a number of reasons why he and the rest of the Egyptian government thought it would be a great benefit to their country: the desire to come up with an impressive deed after defeats in the war with Israel and the Suez crisis, the need to maintain steady levels of the Nile throughout the year and the aspiration to produce more electricity to support the increase in production of cane sugar, cottons, maize, fertilizer, steel and textiles.