scottberkun.com » Why requirements stink
http://www.scottberkun.com/blog/2009/why-requirements-stink/

Two links to Berkun in one day! But there is a great axiom contained within: "Requirements is not Design."

The one book anyone working on requirements needs to read is Exploring Requirements by Gerald Weinberg. It points out most of the stupidity that goes on, explains avoidance tactics, and clearly expresses how requirements are part of the design process - that good problem solving techniques can quickly make your requirements documents better than ever.

Here’s a requirements list: Make a $5 car that goes 500 miles per hour, weighs 10 lbs, and is invisible. Those are very clear requirements. They’re also impossible.

"I don’t want an engineer working on something s/he thinks is stupid. How I can expect them to do good work on something they find stupid?"

1: Requirements is not Design. 2: Too Many Cooks. I like Berkun.

(1) Requirements may be impossible to implement. (2) Requirements writing is hard when no single person has the knowledge and authority.

Great essay describing the perception of software performance and the various time ranges that matter. Good content and great source of references to other source material on the topic.

Designing and Engineering Time

When you need to choose which part of your application to focus on speeding up, understanding where and why users will perceive performance problems is key. You can't and shouldn't optimize everything. Remember, perception is reality. No mater what your metrics say, if the user thinks your application is slow, it is.

"Failing to specify reasonable performance requirements makes it very difficult to verify that your software is actually meeting your users' performance expectations." … with a good overview of Seow's timings.

very useful thoughts on setting performance expectations.

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