More About Software Requirements: Thorny Issues and Practical Advice

Chapter 16. The Fuzzy Line Between Requirements and Design

In this chapter:

Solution Ideas and Design Constraints

Solution Clues

It’s often said that requirements are about what you build and design is about how you build it. But there are two problems with this simplistic demarcation.

First, this statement makes it sound as though there’s a sharp boundary between requirements and design. There’s not. In reality, the distinction between requirements and design is a fuzzy gray region, not a crisp black line. I prefer to say that requirements should emphasize what and design should emphasize how. It is often valuable to take some tentative steps into the solution space and explore possible designs that might satisfy some requirements you have in hand. ...