Pc Requirements Engineering

Requirements Engineering

Transform user needs and business goals into precise, testable requirements.

Context

Requirements engineering bridges discovery and design.

See context and anti-pattern notes.

Inputs

I/O contract notes define required inputs and authority.

Process

Step 1: Gather Functional Requirements

For each user persona and journey, identify what the system must do:

• User actions (login, create, search, purchase, export)
• System responses (validate, calculate, notify, persist)
• Business rules (pricing logic, access control, workflow transitions)

Use a consistent format: "The system shall [action] when [condition] so that [benefit]."

Step 2: Identify Non-Functional Requirements

Quantify quality attributes only when the source material supports a bound or when you clearly label an assumption that still needs owner confirmation:

• Performance: Response time < 200ms p95, support 1000 concurrent users
• Security: OWASP Top 10 compliance, SOC2 Type II, data encryption at rest
• Scalability: Handle 10x growth without architecture changes
• Availability: 99.9% uptime (8.7 hours downtime/year)
• Accessibility: WCAG 2.1 AA compliance

When the source gives a direction but not a number:

• Convert it into a bounded requirement only if the bound is explicitly sourced
• Otherwise record it as an open question or assumption requiring review
• Do not invent precise targets just to make the document look complete

Step 3: Prioritize

Use MoSCoW (Must/Should/Could/Won't) or RICE (Reach x Impact x Confidence / Effort):

• P0 (Must): Product is unusable without these
• P1 (Should): Important but workarounds exist
• P2 (Could): Nice to have, include if time permits
• P3 (Won't): Explicitly out of scope for this iteration

Step 4: Validate and Resolve Conflicts

• Review with stakeholders for completeness
• Check for contradictions between requirements
• Verify technical feasibility with architect
• Ensure traceability (each requirement links to a user need)
• Flag any requirement or NFR whose precision is assumption-driven rather than source-driven
• Preserve upstream non-goals and open questions from problem-frame, design-direction, or intake-brief instead of silently collapsing them into solution commitments

Step 5: Document with Traceability

Each requirement should have: ID, description, priority, source (which user need), acceptance criteria reference, and status.

If a metric, SLA, or retention bound is not directly supported by the source material, include it only as:

• an explicitly labeled assumption, or
• an open question with a named owner

Outputs

Produce only declared outputs at their documented quality boundary.

Quality Gate

• All P0/P1 requirements documented with clear acceptance criteria
• Non-functional requirements quantified where evidence exists; otherwise converted into explicit open questions or assumptions
• No unresolved contradictions between requirements
• Stakeholders have reviewed and signed off
• Requirements are traceable to user needs