Improving requirement content

Now that we’ve seen how to format the requirements and the best style to write them in, we can consider what they should say. The rest of this book describes the different aspects of testing you should consider and capture within the specification, while this section covers the general principles you should apply to the content of the requirements.

Keep it obvious, cover everything

The first requirements to track are the most obvious ones: the main functionality of this new feature. The product owner should cover these requirements, but even here, there can be gaps. There is an art to identifying your assumptions and saying them out loud. Never be shy about being obvious – every so often, something that was obvious to you will be the source of disagreement and confusion. You can only resolve that confusion by asking precise questions, starting with the easy ones.

Real-world example – The vote counter

I once worked on a...