This is my requirements document. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My requirements document is my life. [Kubrick, with some editing]. Michael provides a comparison of requirements documentation formats seen in the wild. A good companion to our earlier piece, Michael provides some “what to expect” guidance about how different companies use the different documentation formats. Check it out.
Background
There is a spectrum of specification for software projects, ranging from “vision” to “algorithm”, and all points in between.
We’ve described the software development process with an onion metaphor. Given that framework of ever-increasing-specificity, we’ve also looked at the flow of moving from market requirements to design, and proposed particular combinations of documents. The flow generally looks like the following:
Michael’s Analysis
Michael looks in more detail at the “requirements” and “spec” levels in the above diagram and provides some perspective about how different companies approach and label documentation. One challenge – different companies use the same names to mean different things.
Check out Michael’s post – more good stuff from him (we subscribe and recommend his blog for everyone interested in product management)!
