Why Is It Vital to Be Clear With Software Requirements as a Software Engineer?

“Working software over comprehensive documentation” is a statement that is a crucial part of the Agile Manifesto. You should not make the misconception by this that documentation is not at all necessary, what is implied by this statement is that developers should not spend prolonged hours reading the documentation about requirements only. The idea is to give equal priority to the requirements as well as execution. 

If it comes to creating software for a new product then documented requirements are indispensable. Otherwise, the software engineers will not be aware of what to create. And, how will they get to know if the software is operating as they intended? How will the project managers be aware of the completion in the absence of the set of requirements to work toward? If you ponder over all these questions you may get to know the importance of the software requirements. 

This article will enlighten you about the role and activities of an engineer with regard to software requirements. 

What Exactly are Software Requirements? 

Software requirements appear to be quite simple and straightforward in the first place. But it is much more than that. When you start off with a project, be inquisitive enough to get as many details as possible. Consider the aspects like, how will you collect your requirements? Are you being considerate of the needs and priorities of stakeholders? Is the project really a requirement for the users? Are there any technical shortcomings? How would you know if it’s done? Many more questions like these should pop up. 

This interrogation has a deeper meaning. As you start going much deeper into the software requirements, you find a huge knowledge area.  Many organizations also hire requirement engineers, especially the ones who are involved in system-level solutions. 

What is Involved in Software Requirements for the Software Engineer?

This purely depends upon your organization’s requirements process and activities the software engineer has to do.  

Have a look at the area where you may be involved in; 

• Elicitation – collecting requirements for the software
• Classification – Making categories of the requirement
• Validation – Assuring the requirement with stakeholders
• Development & Implementation – Working on meeting the software requirements
• Negotiation – Coping up with stakeholders’ conflicts of interest
• Verification – Checking upon the software function if it addresses the requirement

Note: Typically, managing and documenting requirements is not the sole responsibility of the engineers. A few experts including the developers have to look into the needs. However, it is crucial on your part to know how to access and use the management system of requirements to evaluate the changes and impact analysis. 

Elicitation of Software Requirements

Requirements elicitation is described as the activity that dictates the manner in which requirements are collected. You should understand that all requirements cannot be collected from the customer and they may also be derived from the domain the software operates within. From the perspective of project management, elicitation is imperative to derive the project scope and deliverables that are vital to clients’ needs.

From Where Can You Derive Software Requirements? 

Requirements have many sources in general: Have a look at the below sources. 

• Goals
• Domain Knowledge
• Stakeholders
• Business rules
• Operational environment

How Can You Get the Software Requirements? 

• Conducting interviews with stakeholders 
• Delieanating scenarios
• Preparing prototypes
• Observation in the challenging area
• Stories of the users

Classification of Software Requirements: 

Upon the elicitation of the software requirements, they can be categorized into several categories by a project team.

Classification is done in the following way:   

• Functional / Non-functional

Functional requirements define the functions that the software would execute. 

• Non-functional requirement- They impose many constraints on the solution, usually in regard to the quality. They can be further classified into availability, reliability, recoverability, maintainability, scalability, performance, security, etc.

• Derived / Imposed 
  • Is this requirement derived from other requirements?
  • Is the requirement being inflicted upon by a stakeholder?
• Process / Product
  • Is the requirement related to a product?  
  • Is the requirement process-related? 

• Priority

• Strike a balance between the cost of development and implementation against the need for delivery.
• Opt for a fixed-label scale such as mandatory, very desirable, desirable, and optional.

• Scope
  • Opted to assess the impact on the software architecture and component designs.
  • Non-functionals often come with a global scope.
• Volatility / Stability
  • The possible requirement will experience changes during the life cycle of the software.
  • This will further implement designs that can tolerate changes. 

Validation of Software Requirements

After the elicitation and classification, requirements are to be validated with the stakeholders for accuracy. During validation, your team may not even be able to satisfy the requirements. You may have to make some minor to significant changes too. 

Functional Prototypes: How They Work? 

Functional prototypes are useful as they let you do the following easily:

• validating that the requirements are clear and understood
• easier interpretation of the engineer’s hypothesis
• feedback which can provide new requirements

Development & Implementation of Software Requirements

As soon as the requirements are validated with stakeholders, the development stage starts. In several cases, you may act as a software architect as the process of analyzing and elaborating the prerequisites call for the design components that will be accountable for satisfying the requirements to be recognized. 

Being a part of an organization, you should try to make your organization get profit from a software solution. You have to ensure that your methods cut off the cost of development and maintenance.

The Final Thoughts 
Requirements serve as the strong base for any software project. Therefore, engineers must pay heed to them to prevent many problems that may arise. Having a clear idea about the requirements with seamless execution leads to an overall successful project. So the mobile app development companies must prioritize requirements with the other aspects of development.