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Several jobs ago, I was given a requirements document with a number of sentences highlighted as specific requirements. I was asked to copy each highlighted requ
by billpg 5y ago
Several jobs ago, I was given a requirements document with a number of sentences highlighted as specific requirements. I was asked to copy each highlighted requirement to a list, briefly outline each one and estimate the development workload for each one.
I did all of that and sent the report with estimates back to my manager, who responded that I had missed an estimate for one item out. That item was "Code will be of good quality". I responded that all of the code will be of good quality and it would be nonsensical to estimate an amount of time to this one thing as it if was a separate task.
"I'm not not going to write a complete system with bad code and then spend time re-writing it to make it good code."
This story did not end well.
- hulitu 5y ago> "Code will be of good quality" This is not a requirement. This is a wish. To attain code quality you need a good process.
- mobiuscog 5y agoIt could perhaps be a requirement if there are associated acceptance criteria. Once we know how 'good quality' is measured, it can be written to meet said 'requirement'. It may not be a useful requirement though.
- adrianmonk 5y agoThat's a good example of something the article mentioned, which is that people from different disciplines (and, I'll add, people in different job roles) use the same terms differently. To a software developer, "requirement" has a special meaning. It describes how the software will behave. To most other people, "requirement" is just a regular word with its everyday meaning. It describes something that can't not happen. That something can be anything, not necessarily limited to software features. (They probably should be able to figure out from context what a software developer is really asking for, though. And one of these things is not like the others.)