Issues with requirements

The biggest issue when obtaining software requirements lies in communication. According to the article I read Businesses often like to respond with lengthy, wordy descriptions about what they want to accomplish. Software developers on the other hand like to make diagrams and mock-ups (visual prototypes) of what the finished product should be like.

The problem lies in making sure that the requirements that are given in the first place are correct. According to the article rather than jumping straight into prototyping what is initially presented, developers should go back over the wordy documents presented to them by the client and analyze and verify it in the same manner. After this verification developers can move onto graphic representations of what they think the client is going to want. In this manner "Garbage in Garbage out" can be avoided.

Marasco, Joe. Dr. Dobb's Journal32. 9 (Sep 2007): 10.