Archive of Software requirements specification Articles

What is a data dictionary and how is it used when communicating and managing requirements?

One of the ten big rules of writing a good MRD is writing passionate requirements. What in the world is a passionate requirement [they were all wondering]? When you believe in the product, are committed to the work, and aren’t bored, you can write passionately. The goal of a requirement is to create sustained understanding. A dry document can create understanding, but an engaging document will sustain it.

One of the ten big rules of writing a good MRD is writing atomic requirements. Just as verifiable requirements must be concretely measurable as having been met or not, so must atomic requirements. If a requirement has multiple elements that can be implemented separately, it is not atomic.

One of the ten big rules of writing a good MRD is writing verifiable requirements. Verification is both a function of having a precise goal, and having the ability to affordably measure the requirement. A precise goal is a verifiable requirement if we can clearly answer “yes” or “no” when asked if the requirement has been implemented. We also face the practical realities of being able to measure the results profitably.

One of the ten big rules of writing a good MRD is writing unambiguous requirements. Ambiguity is a function of communication. The writing can be generically ambiguous, or ambiguous to the writer. A requirement could be precise in intent, but ambiguous in interpretation by the reader. Understanding our audience is as important as precision in language. We write unambiguous requirements because misinterpretation of requirements is the source of 40% of all bugs in delivered software.

One of the ten big rules of writing a good MRD is writing consistent requirements. Consistency within an MRD has two dimensions that are important to requirements - logical consistency and grammatical consistency. There is also the element of writing an MRD that is consistent with other documentation - external consistency.

One of the ten big rules of writing a good MRD is writing complete requirements. We identify problems and opportunities in the market. We determine that one of these problems is valuable enough and practical to implement. Then we have to write the requirements, and make sure that the requirements will completely solve the targeted problem.

One of the ten big rules of writing a good MRD is writing requirements that do not specify design. How do we specify enough detail to be actionable without constraining the engineering team? How do we trust our developers to do the right thing?
The Big Rule of Avoiding Design-Agnosticism

From our previous article, Writing [...]

One of the ten big rules of writing a good MRD is writing concise requirements. We have to minimize the amount we write to avoid information overload. We also need to make sure we write enough to get the message across. How do we strike the balance?

Pragmatic Marketing has a training seminar called Requirements That Work. In support of that, they provide a list of 8 characteristics of good requirements. We change one and add two more to round it out to The Big Ten Rules. Combine this with Michael’s ten tips for writing MRDs, and we’ve got a good handle on how to create a great MRD.