Importance of Software Requirements Documentation for Your Project

Documenting user requirements and writing specifications have a significant role in the success of any software development. Around 66% of the software projects fail every year globally and not being aware of the specific set of software requirements is one of the top reasons behind it. While the growth scope in the software development market is high, so is the competition.

And so, it often becomes extremely tough for the new entrants to secure their positions in this strictly competitive market. No matter whether you are going for app development, web development, or any other, it is necessary to have a clear idea of the set of software and user requirements.

Documenting user requirements and writing software specifications or come into play here. The global application software development market itself is set to reach $1039.89 billion by 2027 while growing at over 25% CAGR. You too can capture the upcoming opportunities by developing a competitive product.

And for that, you must not skip documenting user requirements and software requirements process. In this blog, we will guide you through the importance, role, and more of documenting user requirements and software requirements for your projects.

What Is Software Requirements Documentation?

Before we delve deeper into documenting user requirements and software requirements, let’s have the basic idea of software requirements documentation. The software requirements documentation is defined as the process of documenting the details related to the software development project such as project scope, requirements, goals, features, solutions, and other relevant factors that should be aligned with the overall project as well as the relevant business goals.

The software requirements document (SRD) is also known as the software requirements specification (SRS). All the leading and successful software development projects do practice documenting user requirements and it is no less than a blueprint for the software development teams. Not only does it let them define and manage the project scope, milestones, and development-related functions, but also ensures quality software development. No doubt that it has become an integral part of various software development projects in different sectors.

See More: The Importance of a Robust Software Service Requirements Document

Types & Structures of Software Requirements

Now that we have better knowledge of documenting user requirements and writing software specifications, let’s walk you through the main structures and types of software requirements.

Business Requirements

It is one of the It is crucial to know the business requirements relevant to your project, to get started. Unless you have a transparent knowledge of why you are developing the product, how it will benefit your business, or what goals your business is trying to accomplish, it will be difficult to ensure that your product meets all the required criteria. So, this structure of software requirements documentation should include all the information related to the business objectives aligned with the product goals, business targets related to profit, revenue, acquisition, and others, and all other associated information about the product development from a business perspective.

Functional Requirements

The functional features and solutions of your product are often the core driving factors to its success. And in this software requirements type/structure, you need to document the main product features that are focused on providing the core solutions it is meant to. Also, it is important to understand the difference between functional requirements and use cases.

For instance, if it is a food delivery app, then you must focus on its key functionalities such as food/restaurant menu, available filters, membership options, delivery facilities, and others. It is important to focus on the exact set of requirements for such features and how effective they should be to bring out the best in them.

For example, there are a lot of food delivery apps available in the market. So, what will be the USP of your product? Or how advanced your product features will be compared to similar existing products? Simply put, functional requirements refer to all the core features to solve specific problems for your target audience.

Non-functional Requirements

Apart from the functional requirements, there are also other sets of requirements associated with your product which are called non-functional requirements of a product. The non-functional requirements are pivotal to determining the specific operations of your product related to performance, speed, security, scalability, and others.

These factors are crucial to determine the efficiency of your product and how well it can secure its position in the market compared to the other products. While speed and performance are often the top factors people focus on, you also need to emphasize reliability and maintainability for better product development. Security on the other hand is crucial for your product safety as well as customer experience. So, while documenting user requirements and writing software specifications related to these factors, you must know the non-functional attributes your product aims to meet.

User Interface Requirements

The user interface should be one of your top priorities to ensure a good customer experience. In this part of the software requirements documentation, you need to specify the user interface design, information to convey, ease of navigation, comprehensible layout, and others that are needed to come up with a competitive user interface.

In this section, your focus should be on ease of understanding, uniqueness, and relevance to your product. Also, at the same time, you should focus on your target audience, their demographics, and other factors as every small thing matter here. For instance, if the global customers are your target audience, but there are only limited languages in the UI design, then it is going to be a major issue in the near future. So this part should be detailed as well.

See More: Mobile App Development - Step by Step Guide for 2022

Top Reasons Your Project Needs Software Requirements Documentation

If you are still wondering whether documenting user requirements or writing software specifications is mandatory or not, here we are going to walk you through the top reasons your project needs software requirements documentation.

Well-defined Project Requirements

Every project is developed with a specific purpose and hence a specific set of requirements is there. Without identifying such requirements and keeping those in mind, it will be next to impossible for the project developers to deliver exactly what’s required. Documenting user requirements and writing software specifications is a practice that is widely adopted during product development as it lets you define and document all the project requirements that the developers and testers can follow throughout the process.

Better Product Quality

No doubt that a quality product widens the path to success. And documenting user requirements and writing software specifications cater to this, by ensuring that the proper set of features is present in your product. As the product features, expected solutions, and other related information are documented at the very beginning of the project, it helps the developer team bring the best out of your project. Such competitive features and solutions are not only crucial for the high efficiency of your product but also let your product have several competitive advantages compared to the other available products in the market from the same category.

Easy Change Management

Change management is inevitable for most project development and documenting user requirements and writing software specifications can help you with that. It ensures that you can easily handle any possible changes relevant to your projects such as the introduction of new technologies, changes in market trends, a shift in the users’ demand-supply patterns, other competitive products, tech stacks, and others. A small shift in the prime factors can bring drastic changes to your project.

Unless you handle all these properly, chances are you will end up losing your target audience, customer and that may even lead to severe loss. Documenting customer requirements and software requirements can help you handle this well instead of letting your project fall apart.

Resources Optimization

It is important to optimize your resources during product development. Or else, you may probably end up running out of time, money, and other resources. No doubt that it will affect the product development process and the final product quality. Also running out of resources or not utilizing the available resources is a sign of poor project management and development practices.

Software requirements documentation saves you from such hassles by defining project milestones to be achieved, related tech stacks, time frame, resources, and others. It makes it easier for you to do the time and cost estimation of your project, and optimize them by following the right steps.

Better Market Positioning

The strong market positioning of the product is the ultimate goal for any software or product development process. And documenting user requirements and software requirements help you in defining the present market state, revenue, the expected market positioning for your product, competition, target market share, and all other relevant factors from day one of software development. As a result, you don’t need to struggle with securing the market position of your product after launching it. Rather, you can go through the right development process to ensure a competitive and quality product that is a good fit for the current market. This is one of the top advantages of documenting software requirements. By doing it right you can save yourself from doing heavy investments in market research, product repositioning, and overcoming relevant challenges.

See More: Rapid Application Development (RAD): A Complete Guide

Takeaway

Product development is not a tricky or challenging process provided you know the right way to do it. While there is no rulebook to ensure that, documenting user requirements works well to bring out the best in your product. It is recommended to outline and structure it as per your product development project and keep the above factors in your mind to utilize it in the right way. The above guide will help you to understand its importance and you must adapt it to ensure quality product development.

Looking for professional product development services? We, at Third Rock Techkno, offer a broad range of web, mobile, and other development services that help you develop competitive products that are fit for the current and upcoming market standards. Check our portfolio and contact us to start today.