Getting the requirements right-a professional approach

Abstract

Software engineers and system analysts are continually inundated with demands to adopt this design methodology or that implementation support tool. There is no shortage of options. However, unless it is very clear what is is that is supposed to be designed and/or implemented, such techniques and tools are likely to be wastefully employed producing the wrong thing. It is incumbent upon all professional engineers, before committing other people's money and resources, to be able to confirm that they are setting to work with a good requirement specification. What is a 'good' requirements specification and how may one ensure that one has one? The paper described a radically new approach to producing re-usable requirements specifications which achieves levels of clarity and precision hitherto unattainable. Above all the approach provides the ability to demonstrate clearly to a client the actual content of a specification as opposed to its supposed content-in an information sense. Such ability is vital if the professional engineer is to be able to carry his client with him or if the client is to be convinced when changes are required-before any serious commitment to consequential or candidate design is made.