Tag Archives: Requirements

How to Decompose Atomic Requirements into Better User Stories

When coaching product managers, I help them identify complex requirements and decompose them into atomic requirements. That is, requirements which cannot be decomposed any further. As it’s not unusual for newly minted product managers to blend multiple requirements into a single user story, I’ll prepare a checklist which they can refer to when drafting their requirements.

If you work in an Agile or Scrum environment, you might find the ‘flexible’ nature of the sprint/epic/releases can undermine your project estimates. If that’s the case, consider using the following guidelines to identify atomic requirements, which you can then convert into easier to estimate user stories.

NEW – Product Design Specification Template

This week Laura and the team created a new Product Design Specification template. This is one of our series of templates related to product development, so if you’re interested in this area, please take a look at the product requirements specs and the user story template.

NEW TEMPLATE: Product Requirements Document (MS Office)

Today, we’re all working on projects. And most of those projects concern products. As consumers increasingly lean towards mobile devices and apps to use on-the-go, the demand to develop niche products to address this demand continues to rise.
This means that if you work in product development, or plan to move into this space, understanding how to spec out your product is essential. Our product-driven feature-rich culture requires tools like Product Requirements Documents to help teams align on product vision, features, and success criteria before and during development. So, where do you start?

Using Google Gemini to streamline the Software Requirements Specifications Writing Process

Writing business requirements? This guide shows you how AI (Google Gemini) can help draft, write, and review your SRS docs. Don’t worry, it won’t replace you, but save time, improve quality, and free you for strategic tasks.

User Story – Writing Guidelines and Checklists

In this week’s technical writing tutorial, we look at how to write a user story. You can use these guidelines and checklists to refine your user stories, expand the material to help your readers understand the scenario, allow developers to code the requirement, and testers to ensure it meets the acceptance criteria. Let’s get started.

Writing Requirements: Will v Shall v May

When writing requirements or technical documentation, when should you use Will or Shall? Does it make any difference which term you use? Yes. Writing Requirements: Will v Shall v May Let’s look at when you use each. Will indicates intention. “I will fix this PC” (you intend to) “Shall” indicates obligation. It’s close to a […]

How to Write Better Business Processes Designs (with Visio template samples)

Business process design covers many areas. It involves understanding requirements, both the business and functional, the ability to interview different subject matters experts, then write the narrative explaining how the process currently works (as is) and could work (to be). [Learn more about these Process Design MS Word templates here] Furthermore, it requires visual design […]