Software Requirement Writing 101

When it comes to launching a startup, the excitement and thrill of innovation can often overshadow the nuts and bolts of getting things off the ground. A vital and often-overlooked area is requirement writing. Like the blueprint for a construction project or a recipe for a gourmet dish, requirements provide the precise roadmap for any tech project. They outline exactly what needs to be built, ensuring everyone involved—from developers to stakeholders—shares a unified vision. We believe it’s vital to demystify requirement writing and underscore its importance in receiving accurate tech proposals.

Why Requirement Writing Matters

Whether it’s about obtaining an apples-to-apples quote or providing clear instructions to developers, well-articulated requirements are critical. The more fleshed out the requirements are, the easier it becomes for all parties to understand and estimate the project’s scope.

A key factor here is that these Software Requirement Specifications (SRS) act as the Project’s Scope Documentation, which is defined as the “Single Source of Truth” (SSOT) for answers about the requirements. This SSOT ensures that everyone is singing from the same songbook, thereby facilitating better-aligned knowledge transfer among team members.

Moreover, clearly documented requirements offer a reliable basis for comparative quotes. By outlining build requirements—aided by epics and user stories—you can get an estimation that is easier to compare. This sets the same expectation for the project across all bidders, making the received proposals easier to compare and evaluate.

Building Blocks of Requirement Documentation: User Journeys

Imagine your software as a novel. User Journeys, also known as Epics and User Stories are the chapters and paragraphs that make up the plot. Epics are extensive user journeys that capture what a software user will do with the platform. Think of them as a high-level view of your project’s functions.

An Epic, for example, could be: “Authentication”, which is the means of authenticating a User with the platform using their User Credentials. This Epic is a broad user story that typically cannot be delivered or completed entirely within a single sprint. Epics are broken down further into Stories, Tasks, Sub-Tasks, and any other applicable Issue Types that combine together to produce the desired “Epic” or Feature. A Story that would exist under the Authentication Epic, for example, could be: “Users should be able to login to the platform with their Facebook account using Facebook Single-Sign-On (SSO) API” or “Users should be able to reset their password via an email verification”. As you can see Authentication is the broader function in the form of an Epic, while FaceBook SSO is a Story and subset of that Epic. Together, Epics and User Stories form the blueprint documentation for the project’s build, translating high-level ideas into concrete plans that drive development efforts.

The relationship between Epics and User Stories is critical to understanding the anatomy of requirement writing. Epics often encapsulate multiple user stories, creating a nested structure that helps break down complex functionalities into manageable chunks. For example, while an Epic might state that users should be able to Authenticate, the associated user stories might detail the various steps involved, like clicking on the Facebook SSO login button, resetting a password when a user forgets their credentials, or handling login errors and presenting those errors to the user in the UI. This interplay between Epics and User Stories allows for better deliverable organization, enables progress tracking to be simpler, and establishes a dynamic and flexible approach to managing the requirements.

Best Practices – Consistency, Schema, and More

While there are multiple ways to approach requirement writing, consistency, and structure are essential. To maintain this consistency, consider organizing all the feature sets and user journeys into an easy-to-understand spreadsheet. Here are some recommended columns:

1. Epic Name (Feature Category)
2. Feature Name (User Story)
3. Feature Description (Details of the User Story Flow)
4. Priority of Feature Priority (1-5)
5. Must vs Nice to Have (Identify Phase Necessities)
6. Links/Resources (References and Inspiration)

Incorporating a scoring system or ranking can also be beneficial, as it helps sort or filter features. This aids in allocating resources and time to the right features, maximizing efficiency and productivity on the things you need, and spending less time on the things you want but can move forward without.

In addition to labeling all of your deliverables with a priority ranking of one (1) to five (5), with one being the lowest, and five being the highest – differentiating a “Must-Have” feature from a “Nice to Have” feature can be crucial. By establishing these priorities, you can steer the direction of the project’s build iteration based on the product owner’s urgency toward certain feature sets.

Consistency should extend beyond your spreadsheet’s columns to further optimize requirement writing. Maintain a steady structure and language across all Epics and User Stories, ensuring they are concise, clear, and actionable. This makes it easier for everyone to understand them and enhances the overall quality of your requirements.

Also, don’t forget about feedback and iteration—requirement writing is not a one-and-done process. It is an evolving document that adapts and evolves as your project progresses, the market changes, and/or new insights are gained. Always be ready to revisit and revise as necessary, ensuring that your requirements truly serve as the guiding light for your project’s journey.

While it may seem daunting initially, particularly for startups with their hands full, it’s important to remember that the devil is in the details. Spending the right amount of time on requirement writing ensures smoother sailing for your project, obtaining more accurate proposals and, ultimately, a product that truly reflects your vision. In the long term, not only will this save you thousands of dollars and countless hours, but it will also ensure your ability to choose the right software development team to work with, preferably one like DivNotes Inc. which has available Product Developers to lead and manage this process for you.

If you haven’t considered it yet, getting a Consultation with DivNotes is easy! We’d love to hear from you and discuss the feasibility of your idea! Reach out to us today, and let’s start identifying possibilities for your project.