Requirement Review
Systematically review requirements to validate quality and identify issues before design and development begins. Ensure requirements are complete, clear, consistent, testable, and traceable.
Review Workflow
1. Preparation
Gather all relevant documentation:
- Requirements documents (BRD, SRS, user stories)
- Non-functional requirements and constraints
- Requirements Traceability Matrix (if available)
- Project context (charter, goals)
- Existing acceptance criteria
2. Quality Assessment
Evaluate each requirement using six quality attributes:
- Completeness: All needs captured, no missing details or TBDs, dependencies identified
- Clarity: Unambiguous, specific, no vague terms ("user-friendly", "fast", "easy")
- Consistency: No conflicts, consistent terminology and priorities
- Testability: Verifiable with measurable acceptance criteria and clear pass/fail
- Traceability: Links to business goals, design, and tests
- Feasibility: Technically achievable within constraints (budget, timeline, capability)
See quality-checklists.md for detailed assessment criteria and document-specific checklists
3. Issue Identification
Identify common requirement problems:
Ambiguous: "system shall be fast" → Specify measurable criteria: "< 2s response for 95% of requests"
Untestable: "system shall be secure" → Define specific controls: password complexity, encryption standards, audit logging
Incomplete: "system shall send notifications" → Specify channel, timing, content, recipients
Conflicting: REQ-012 "phone required" vs REQ-089 "phone optional" → Flag for stakeholder resolution
See examples.md for extensive before/after examples
4. Quality Scoring
Calculate scores for each quality attribute (0-100%):
- 90-100%: Excellent - minimal issues
- 75-89%: Good - minor improvements needed
- 60-74%: Fair - notable gaps exist
- Below 60%: Poor - major rework required
Overall Quality = Average of all six attributes Target: ≥ 90% for production-readiness
5. Report Generation
Create structured review report with:
Executive Summary: Quality rating, recommendation, key strengths (2-3), critical issues (2-3), top actions
Detailed Findings: Quality scores, issues by severity (Critical/Major/Minor), specific examples with requirement IDs
Action Items: Prioritized list with owners, due dates, effort estimates, approval conditions
See report-templates.md for complete report structure and templates
6. Recommendations
Provide clear decision:
- Approve: Requirements ≥ 90% quality threshold
- Approve with Conditions: Critical issues must be resolved before design
- Major Revision: 60-74% quality - substantial rework required
- Reject: < 60% quality or fundamental issues - complete redesign needed
Document-Specific Focus
Business Requirements Documents (BRD)
Focus on business objectives, stakeholder needs, scope definition, business case, constraints
Software Requirements Specifications (SRS)
Focus on functional requirements, non-functional requirements (performance, security, scalability), system behaviors, integration points, IEEE 830 compliance
User Story Backlogs
Focus on INVEST criteria (Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small, Testable), acceptance criteria format (Given-When-Then), story format, prioritization
See quality-checklists.md for document-specific assessment criteria
Severity Definitions
- Critical: Blocks progress, must fix immediately (security gaps, fundamental conflicts, missing scope)
- Major: Significant quality impact, should fix before approval (ambiguous criteria, missing acceptance criteria)
- Minor: Quality improvements, nice to have (formatting, examples, enhancements)
Common Anti-Patterns to Flag
- Gold Plating: Adding unrequested features
- Solution-Focused: Specifying "how" instead of "what" (requirements should be technology-agnostic)
- Scope Creep: Accepting changes without change control
- Analysis Paralysis: Over-perfecting requirements indefinitely
- Weak Acceptance Criteria: Vague or missing test conditions
- No Traceability: Requirements disconnected from business goals
Vague Terms to Replace
Always replace with measurable criteria:
- "user-friendly", "intuitive", "easy" → Define usability metrics
- "fast", "quick", "responsive" → Specify response time targets
- "secure" → Define specific security controls
- "scalable" → Define capacity and load targets
- "reliable" → Define uptime percentage and recovery time
Standards Compliance
- IEEE 830: SRS structure and content standards
- INVEST: User story quality criteria (Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small, Testable)
- ISO/IEC 25010: Systems and software quality models
- Industry-Specific: HIPAA (healthcare), PCI-DSS (payments), SOC 2 (SaaS), FDA (medical devices)
See quality-checklists.md for standards compliance details
Report Format
Generate review reports in this structure:
- Executive Summary (1 page): Overall assessment, key findings, recommendation
- Quality Metrics (0.5 page): Scores by attribute with targets
- Detailed Findings (2-5 pages): Issues grouped by attribute with examples and recommendations
- Action Items (1 page): Prioritized list with owners and due dates
- Approval Decision (0.5 page): Recommendation with rationale and next steps
Keep reports factual, specific, and actionable. Always cite specific requirement IDs when identifying issues.
See report-templates.md for complete report templates