
84 Requirements Engineering for Software and Systems
shape should look like a pyramid in that there should be a few numbered state-
ments at level 1 and each lower level should have increasingly more numbered
statements than the level above it (Figure 4.8a).
On the other hand, requirements documents whose requirements counts at
each level resemble an hour-glass shape (Figure 4.8b) are usually those that contain
a large amount of introductory and administrative information. Finally, diamond-
shaped documents, represented by a pyramid followed by decreasing statement
counts at lower levels (Figure 4.8c) indicate an inconsistent level ...