Why systems fail at the requirements stage
On This Lesson 4 topics
This lesson is planned. The outline below lists the topics it will cover. The full lesson has not been published yet.
In this lesson
show that most expensive failures start with a requirement nobody wrote down or tested.
Planned topics
- Stakeholders state goals ("handle 10×"), not requirements ("p99 checkout under 800 ms at 600 orders/s").
- A missing requirement is found late and costs a redesign; a wrong one costs a rebuild.
- Typical gaps: nonfunctional targets, failure behavior, data retention, who decides.
- Designing before asking locks in answers to questions never put to the business.
Draft outline details
Demonstration
a timeline of the order subsystem: goal "10× growth" in the board deck, then three architectures that each silently assume a different meaning of "10×".
Check your understanding
Why is "handle 10× growth" not yet a requirement?
Show answer
It has no measure, scope, or time frame; different people read it differently.
Practice
Apply this lesson with the module's lab, exercises and quiz.
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