Quality Indicator
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Description
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Best Practice
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Recommendation
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Imperatives
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Words and phrases that command that something must be done.
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A proper requirement has exactly one imperative.
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Ensure a single imperative is present in your requirement or split a requirement with more than one imperative into multiple requirements.
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Negative Imperatives
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Words and phrases that command that something must not be done.
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A proper requirement does not use negative imperatives as it is difficult to verify.
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Restate requirements with negative imperatives as one or more requirements with (positive) imperatives. Specify what the system shall do, not what it shall not do.
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Vagues
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Words and phrases that are imprecise, unclear, and ambiguous. They introduce uncertainty and leave room for multiple interpretations.
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A proper requirement does not use vague words or phrases.
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Restate the requirement with vague words as one or more requirements with clear and definite intent.
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Optional Escape Clauses
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Words and phrases that loosen the requirement specification and give latitude in implementation, reducing control and increasing risk.
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A proper requirement does not use optional words or phrases.
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Replace optional escape clauses with a verifiable statement and mark as required or optional as intended.
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Optional Open-Ended Clauses
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Open-ended clauses say that there is more required without stating exactly what. Open-ended clauses can lead to ambiguous, unverifiable requirements that do not reflect accurately the stakeholder expectations.
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A proper requirement does not use open-ended clauses.
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Replace the open-ended clause with the information that is being alluded to.
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Superfluous Infinitives
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Additional and unnecessary verbs or verb phrases in the requirements.
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A proper requirement should avoid superfluous infinitives.
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Remove superfluous verbs that cause verification issues.
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Cross-Referencing Pronouns
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Word and phrases to reference a person or an object without specifying who or what it is; for example, words such as “it”, “this”, “that”, “he”, “she”, “they”, and “them.”
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A proper requirement should avoid the use of pronouns and cross-referencing pronouns.
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Repeat nouns in full instead of using pronouns to refer to nouns in other requirements.
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Immeasurable Quantification
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Words or phrases that indicate an unmeasured quantification, such as” great”, "small",” medium-sized”,” best practice”, and ”user-friendly.”
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A proper requirement should avoid the use of immeasurable quantifiers.
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Replace with a quantity that can be objectively measured.
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Non-specific Temporal Words
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Words and phrases that reference non-specific timing, such as “eventually”, “until”, and “before”. These words are not verifiable and can cause confusion or unintended meaning.
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A proper requirement does not use non-specific timing references.
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Replace with specific timing constraints.
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Continuances & Combinators
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Word and phrases that follow the requirement’s imperative and introduce more detail to the specification.
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A proper requirement avoids excessive use of continuances (generally no more than two).
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Restate requirements with excessive use of continuances as multiple requirements each with simpler specifications.
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Directives
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Words and phrases pointing to information that aims to strengthen and clarify the specification, such as examples, tables, figures, or reference to other sections in the document.
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When necessary, a proper requirement uses directives to increase the understanding and clarity of context.
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Assess the need and the benefit of directives in the requirement. Careful and clear use of directives is recommended.
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Universal Quantifiers & Absolutes
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Words or phrases that generalize a quantity or quantities relating to a subject.
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Universal quantifiers should be used carefully and sparingly as they make a requirement difficult or impossible to verify without a thorough understanding of the context.
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Unless clear by its context, aim to restate the requirement with specific values for any quantities mentioned.
NOTE: QVscribe will show this indicator as a warning and will not affect the score.
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Justification
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Extra information that is not needed within the requirement and that define a purpose for why the requirement exists.
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Information that defines why a requirement exists should not be within the requirement itself. Rather, this extra information should be defined within an accompanying "rational statement”.
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Remove information regarding purpose/justification from the requirement – add this information to the rationale statement or create a new rationale.
NOTE: QVscribe will show this indicator as a warning and will not affect the score.
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Passive Voice
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A sentence written in passive voice has a receiver-acted-by- doer structure, rather than a more direct doer-acts-on-receiver structure.
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Requirements should be written in active voice and passive voice should be avoided.
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Restate the requirement into a doer-acts-on-receiver structure.
NOTE: QVscribe will show this indicator as a warning and will not affect the score.
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Incomplete Sentences
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Incomplete sentences are such where the object, action, or subject may be poorly specified or missing altogether.
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Incomplete sentences should be avoided in general.
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Read the incomplete sentence and add the necessary details such that the object, action, and subject are clearly identified in the requirement.
NOTE: QVscribe will show this indicator as a warning and will not affect the score.
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