Chapter 5

Requirements Specification

Human memories are imperfect and incomplete. They fade and distort over time, and other people can’t access them. Consequently, a software team should record the information it accumulates about requirements to serve as a persistent group memory.

Some people don’t like to bother writing down requirements or other project information. However, the cost of recording knowledge is small compared to the cost of acquiring that knowledge or reacquiring it in the future (Wiegers 2022). Thoughtfully selected and properly maintained documentation is a sensible investment to improve collaboration among project participants and to refresh memories over time. Documented requirements also help bring new team members up ...

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