Requirements have a number of uses.

1. They document progress. This management value is sometimes the only value placed on requirements. This happens when requirements are really just high-level design and don't describe the problem adequately.
2. They test candidate architectures. This is done well when there is a back and forth …

Walker Royce notes that the early parts of a project involve discovery; as a consequence the scope is subject to change. He calls the early phases inception and elaboration. Inception identifies the need for a project, and stakes out an initial context and problem. Elaboration adds details, including the constraining …

Here's a possible match-up between the Seven Deadly Sins and Seven Species of Complexity.

• lust for someone we cannot have - "When I Grow Up"
• gluttony or over-indulgence - "How Hard Can It Be?"
• avarice (covetousness, greed) for things we do not need - "Quality vs. Quantity of Ideas"
• sloth (laziness, idleness) wasting …

See RLucente.bloki.com: The Culture of Programming - Why Programmers Make Things So Complicated .

RL identifies 4 reasons.

1. It could be that its actually complicated
2. It could be that have not found the real problem
3. It could be that I have to patch because I can't redesign and rebuild the …

A great deal of the requirements analysis activity is identifying the entire problem. Many software people are eager to present a solution to some of the problem.

Perhaps I can't locate my keys. Having a "Clapper" on my key ring so that my keys chirp may be a solution. However …

Software, and a software architecture, is a solution to a problem. Without a specific problem, software is a pointless exercise: statements in a formal language with no thesis or purpose. An abstract piece of software akin to the statement: "Time flies like an arrow." It parses (two different ways!) but …

All software problems are large or complex as a direct result of the tremendous reuse potential of software. Consider two alternatives:

• The problem is relatively well understood. Solution: locate an open source or commercial solution and use or adapt that solution.
• The problem is not well understood. Solution: study enough …

The topsoil is in the front yard, the garden is in the back yard.

The users form up a bucket brigade to use several pails and buckets to move the soil. It's backbreaking and slow, so they go to IT for a solution.

"We've measured the work activity very carefully …

A Question:

I would like to build a web browser interface that has capabilities like a spreadsheet.

At the same time, would like to use a tool like OpenROAD from Ingres/CA to do this.

It seems that XUL is the way to go but the entire Mozilla thing is …