How To Correctly Write Software Requirements

How To Correctly Write Software Requirements

The requirements should be formulated in sufficient detail so that to minimize the risk related to misunderstanding of their content. For this purpose, it is necessary to take into account the knowledge and experience of developers. If the developers offer several ways to meet the requirements and these all are acceptable, then the product features are chosen correctly and the right level of detail is gauged to be provided in requirement document. Precisely formulated requirements increase the likelihood that customer expectations will be satisfied; less strict language gives developers more freedom in interpretation. If the developer does not clearly understand the expectations of the clients with regard to the specification, it is necessary to include additional information in order to reduce the risk of subsequent corrections.


The creators of the documentation often spend a lot of effort obtaining the required level of detail. Try to separately describe the requirements that you can test. If you can come up with several testing options, then the required level of detail is achieved. If you have numerous and various tests, probably several requirements are combined together in one document; however, they should be divided into simpler ones.


People tend to turn to experts of quality assurance company for help in order to detect and remove defects in the products being created, accelerate the life cycle and make the software marketable and appealing to the customers.


When writing requirements, observe the level of detail. In the same specification there may be provisions that vary significantly. For example, “The combination of the Ctrl + S keys will be interpreted as a Save file” and “The combination of the Ctrl + P keys will be interpreted as File printing” were considered separate requirements, and “The product will respond to editing commands entered by voice” was described as an entire subsystem (or even a product!), and not one functional requirement.


Avoid long narrative paragraphs that contain several requirements. If such words as “or” and “also” are contained in the requirements it implies that several requirements could be combined together. This does not mean that you cannot use the conjunction • •>, but if you do this, check to see if it connects two parts of one requirement or two separate requirements. Never use “and / or” in the requirements; this allows the reader freedom of maneuver. Expressions such as “not yet” and “except” also indicate the existence of several requirements: “The buyer’s credit card will be deemed valid for payments until its validity period expires.” Divide this position into two – for two conditions: when the credit card expires and when it is valid.

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