How do I document code change requirements?
We have some code changes that need to be made because they were poorly written. basically, a developer looked at some old code and has found some areas of opportunity. They are going to modify the code to make it perform better. They created a project initiation document that says they are going to rewrite the code and now they want a requirements document. To me the only requirement is to streamline the code for better performance.
It seems a little over kill to try to put a requirements specification document together for this project (which has already been completed).
What do you tihnk? Any suggestions on how I should go about documenting this kind of project?
Set the scope right and test
Hi,
If I understand your situation correctly the purpose of your project is to refactor existing code to improve performance?
I think setting the right scope is extremely important for these kind of projects! Some developers I know see lots of 'opportunities' when they get the change to refactor some old source. To prevent the developers from getting lost in the opportunities you should address exactly what the goal of the refactoring is. It may also be wise to stress what your project is not going to do. For example: "Project X will not improve existing functionality" and "Project X will not add any new functionality".
Finally I should add some requirements concerning testing the required performance and testing whether or not the functionality is still in tact.
Hope this helps,
Erik Venema
Requirements Engineer
RDRM