Elements of Requirements Style

The goal of writing requirements is clear communication. Here are many tips for achieving that outcome.

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Writing software requirements is hard! There’s no formulaic approach to it, and yet clarity is essential. High-quality requirements begin with proper grammar and spelling, well-constructed sentences, and a logical organization.

This article presents numerous style guidelines to keep in mind when writing functional requirements. However, I’m not a fan of arbitrary writing rules. Some I’ve heard are:

• A requirement may not contain the word and. And indicates the presence of two requirements, which must be separated.
• A requirement may not contain more than one sentence.
• A requirement may not contain more than 22 words.

Such simplistic rules are intended to help business analysts (BAs) write good requirements, but too often they aren’t good advice.

As you write your requirements, always remember your key objective: clear and effective communication among the project stakeholders.

I Shall Call This a Requirement

Shall is the traditional keyword for identifying a functional requirement. Functional…