We have Word documents for requirements and (manual) test cases plus a self-written audit tools that checks the links between them, and converts them into hyperlinked and searchable HTML. It’s part of the dayly build. We are mostly happy with it. It is nice to know that we at any time can switch to a better tool (after all our requirements have an “API”), but we still have not found a better one.
Ask HN: How do you keep track of software requirements and test them?
61–70 of 134 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of software requirements and test them?
#62I review software for at least 3-5 companies per week as part of FDA submission packages. The FDA requirements require traceability between reqs and the validation. While many small companies just use excel spreadsheets for traceability, the majority of large companies seem to use JIRA tickets alongside confluence. While those arent the only methods, they seem to be 90% of the packages I review.
hi, we're trying to build a validated software environment for an ELN tool. I would be interested in learning more about your experience with this software review if you could spare a few minutes -- jason@uncountable.com
Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of software requirements and test them?
#63Let the product owner (PO) handle them. The PO has to make the hard decision about what to work on and when. He/She must understand the product deeply and be able to make the hard decisions. Also the PO should be able to test the system to accept the changes. Furthermore. You don't really need to have endless lists of requirements. The most important thing to know is what is the next thing that you have to work on.
That would be nice, and maybe I should have clarified why I asked the question. I was asked to add a new large feature, and some bugs popped up along the way. I thought better testing could have helped, and then I thought it would possibly help to list the requirements as well so I can determine which tests to write/perform. And really I thought I could have been writing those myself - PO tells me what is needed generally, I try to determine what's important from there.
Or maybe I just need to do better testing myself? There's no code reviews around here, or much of an emphasis on writing issues, or any emphasis on testing that I've noticed. So it's kind of tough figuring out what I can do
Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of software requirements and test them?
#64In a safety-critical industry, requirements tracking is very important. At my current employer, all of our software has to be developed and verified in accordance with DO-178 [0]. We have a dedicated systems engineering team who develop the system requirements from which we, the software development team, develop the software requirements; we have a dedicated software verification team (separate from the development…
Just wanted to ask, this pretty much ensures you're doing waterfall development, as opposed to agile, right?
Waterfall and Agile are tools. If you need to hang a photo, a hammer and a nail. Cut down a tree? Maybe not the hammer and the nail.
Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of software requirements and test them?
#65What we do: - we track work (doesn't matter where), each story has a list of "acceptance criteria", for example: 'if a user logs in, there's a big red button in the middle of the screen, and if the user clicks on it, then it turns to green' - there's one pull request per story - each pull request contains end-to-end (or other, but mostly e2e) tests that prove that all ACs are addressed, for example the test logs in a…
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Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of software requirements and test them?
#66Gitlab does have requirements management integrated but it’s not part of the free tier. [1] https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/requirements/
I just tried that feature. I added a requirement. I could only add a title and description, which wasn't great. The requirement appeared in the Issues list, which was a bit odd, and when I closed the issue the requirement disappeared from the requirements list. Whatever that feature is meant to be, it definitely isn't requirements management. Requirements don't stop being requirements after you've written the code.
GitLab employee here - we list Requirements Management as at "minimal" maturity. I'm sure the team would love to hear more about why the feature didn't work for you - you can learn more about the direction and the team here: https://about.gitlab.com/direction/plan/certify/#requirement...
Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of software requirements and test them?
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
If builders built buildings the way programmers write programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization. ~ Gerald Weinberg (1933-10-27 age:84) Weinberg’s Second Law https://www.mindprod.com/jgloss/unmain.html
> If builders built buildings the way programmers write programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization. If builders built buildings the way programmers write programs, we’d have progressed from wattle-and-daub through wood and reinforced concrete to molecular nanotechnology construction in the first two generations of humans building occupied structures. Bad analogy is bad because prog…
On that path a lot of people would have died due to building collapses and fires though.
Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of software requirements and test them?
#68In a safety-critical industry, requirements tracking is very important. At my current employer, all of our software has to be developed and verified in accordance with DO-178 [0]. We have a dedicated systems engineering team who develop the system requirements from which we, the software development team, develop the software requirements; we have a dedicated software verification team (separate from the development…
Just wanted to ask, this pretty much ensures you're doing waterfall development, as opposed to agile, right?
You can and will make changes on the way but every change is extremely expensive so it’s better to keep changes low.
Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of software requirements and test them?
#69Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of software requirements and test them?
#70I review software for at least 3-5 companies per week as part of FDA submission packages. The FDA requirements require traceability between reqs and the validation. While many small companies just use excel spreadsheets for traceability, the majority of large companies seem to use JIRA tickets alongside confluence. While those arent the only methods, they seem to be 90% of the packages I review.
We have been working software for FDA submissions as well. We use Jama https://www.jamasoftware.com/ for requirements management and traceability to test cases.