No Technical Background? Learn to Write Clear and Understandable Requirements Documents

Don't know how to write requirements documents (SRS, BRD, PRD)? This guide is perfect for product managers, project managers, and business analysts. Learn how to write requirements documents with clear structure and examples that engineers can understand, ensuring development teams accurately implement features!

Introduction

In software development projects, requirements documents (Software Requirements Specification, SRS) serve as an indispensable bridge between requirements units and development teams. They are not only the foundation for development teams but also the key to ensuring the final product meets expectations.

However, for project managers, product managers, or business analysts without technical backgrounds, writing requirements documents can be daunting—how do you write so that engineers can understand?

Don't worry! You don't need to become a technical expert to write clear and comprehensive requirements documents.

This article will guide you step by step through writing techniques in the simplest and most understandable way, ensuring development teams no longer have to "imagine" but truly understand your requirements!

What is a Software Requirements Specification (SRS)?

SRS is like a "product manual + specification sheet" used to clearly describe what the system should do, what it shouldn't do, and how it's expected to operate.

The purpose of SRS is:

• Help development teams clearly understand requirements, including usage flows and scenarios.
• Provide QA (Quality Assurance) or requirements unit personnel with the ability to verify whether results match the requirements document.
• Help stakeholders and development teams align on requirements, avoiding development errors caused by unclear information and reducing subsequent development change costs.

Through these methods, development teams understand: "What results do users expect? What outcomes should they see?"

In practical experience, the most common scenarios are:

• Requirements units didn't mention it, but during UAT (User Acceptance Testing) validation, they discover it's needed!
• Assuming that if it's not written, the functionality doesn't need to be implemented. (Business units' assumptions and development teams' assumptions are usually quite different)
• Assuming that writing business requirements means development teams will understand. (Developers aren't necessarily familiar with actual business requirements)

When the above occurs, if it doesn't affect the originally proposed requirement flow, it's usually manageable, what's hard to manage is usually people.

But when it's discovered that "requirement changes" affect existing processes, it easily impacts development timelines.

Therefore, the purpose of documentation is to align mutual understanding. Before execution, both requirements and development units need to review document content together, immediately confirming unclear points in meetings.

Why is SRS So Important?

Many development project failures are often not due to technical issues, but because "requirements weren't aligned."

When requirements are unclear, developers can only rely on guesswork to complete their work, and such results usually differ greatly from business expectations.

Unclear requirements lead to:

• Increased communication costs: Development teams need to repeatedly confirm requirements, delaying progress.
• Wrong development direction: Developed features may not meet requirements, leading to rework.
• Testing difficulties: QA cannot determine what content should be tested.
• Poor user experience: The final product may not solve users' real pain points.

A clear SRS document makes the development process smoother, avoiding unnecessary time and resource waste.

Basic Structure for Writing SRS

Below is the information that business units generally need to know when proposing to development units, in order to assess requirement implementation feasibility.

tip

1. Introduction

   • Objectives and Background
   • Document Scope
   • Definitions and Abbreviations

2. Overall Description

   • Product Feature Overview
   • User Roles and Usage Scenarios
   • Design Constraints

3. Specific Requirements

   • Functional Requirements
   • Non-functional Requirements
   • User Interface Requirements

4. Other Considerations

   • System Requirements
   • Compatibility
   • Security and Privacy Considerations

SRS Writing Techniques

Process Over Details

There's a saying: All things are difficult at the beginning, start with the process.

When proposers have 100% understanding of the process, it means they grasp the requirements framework, and when discussing with development teams, they can effectively communicate and discuss implementation details.

Use Simple and Clear Language to Express Requirements

Many technical personnel are not familiar with business terminology, therefore, avoid using overly specialized business terms and use simple, specific descriptions instead.

Conversely, technical personnel also need to use understandable descriptions for technical terms, helping business units understand.

If You Don't Have Complete System Familiarity, Don't Try to Direct the Development Team

Each field has its specialization. Technical teams won't interfere with how business teams market or acquire customers, nor will they require business units to follow specific methods.

Each field and team has its own expertise, never challenge others' professionalism with your own interests.

So when writing documents, just clearly describe the need to consider OO usage scenarios to meet OO requirements.

How to implement it, technical teams will make professional assessments based on current architecture.

Use Examples and Scenario Descriptions

Use examples to make requirements more concrete. But if referencing existing presentation methods, still need to write presentation method follows current design, which can help development teams understand requirements faster.

Suppose you're writing requirements for an e-commerce website, you can describe it like this:

✅ For example:

When users add items to their shopping cart, the system should automatically calculate the total price and display shipping costs. If item inventory is insufficient, it should display an "Out of Stock" notification.

Clearly Define Acceptance Criteria

Developers need to know "what kind of result meets the requirements," so SRS should include clear acceptance criteria.

✅ For example:

When users submit an order, the system should display an "Order Submitted" confirmation message.

How to Make SRS More Readable?

Even if requirements documents are written comprehensively, if development teams cannot read them, they still cannot serve their purpose.

Here are some tips for making documents more readable:

Use Tables and Flowcharts

People prefer visual information, therefore, using tables, flowcharts, or sequence diagrams to present requirements can greatly improve readability.

Function	Condition	Expected Result
Add to Cart	User clicks "Add to Cart" button	Item added to cart, confirmation message shown
Payment	User enters credit card info and submits	System processes payment, shows order confirmation screen

Write in Sections, Avoid Lengthy Content

People are used to quickly scanning key points, so avoid writing overly long paragraphs. Instead, break content into smaller parts and use headings and numbering to organize content.

Involve Technical Personnel in Requirements Discussions

Before writing SRS, discuss requirements with the technical team first to ensure they can understand business requirements and provide technical feasibility suggestions.

Conclusion

Finally, when writing SRS, even without a technical background, as long as you master clear expression of business processes and expected results, plus use examples and charts, and maintain good communication with development teams, it's enough to maximize the value of requirements documents.

I hope this guide can help you write clearer, more readable requirements documents, making your development projects more successful!

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