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Requirement
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=== Disputes regarding the necessity and effects of software requirements === Many projects have succeeded with little or no agreement on requirements.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Checkland|first1=Peter|title=System Thinking, System Practice|date=1999|publisher=Wiley|location=Chichester}}</ref> Some evidence furthermore indicates that specifying requirements can decrease [[creativity]] and design performance <ref> {{cite conference | url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272793687 | title = Is Requirements Engineering Inherently Counterproductive? | last1=Ralph|first1=Paul|last2=Mohanani|first2=Rahul| date = May 2015 | publisher = IEEE | book-title = Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on the Twin Peaks of Requirements and Architecture | pages = 20β23 | location = Florence, Italy }}</ref> Requirements hinder creativity and design because designers become overly preoccupied with provided information.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Jansson|first1=D.|last2=Smith|first2=S.|title=Design fixation|journal=Design Studies|date=1991|volume=12|issue=1|pages=3β11|doi=10.1016/0142-694X(91)90003-F}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Purcell|first1=A.|last2=Gero|first2=J.|title=Design and other types of fixation|journal=Design Studies|date=1996|volume=17|issue=4|pages=363β383|doi=10.1016/S0142-694X(96)00023-3}}</ref><ref> {{cite conference | url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265416695 | title = Requirements Fixation | last1=Mohanani|first1=Rahul|last2=Ralph|first2=Paul|last3=Shreeve|first3=Ben | date = May 2014 | publisher = IEEE | book-title = Proceedings of the International Conference on Software Engineering | pages = 895β906 | location = Hyderabad, India}}</ref> More generally, some research suggests that software requirements are an [[illusion]] created by misrepresenting design decisions as requirements in situations where no real requirements are evident.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Ralph|first=Paul|title=The Illusion of Requirements in Software Development|journal=Requirements Engineering|volume=18|issue=3|pages=293β296|year=2012|doi=10.1007/s00766-012-0161-4|arxiv=1304.0116|s2cid=11499083}}</ref> Meanwhile, most [[agile software development]] methodologies question the need for rigorously describing software requirements upfront, which they consider a moving target. Instead, [[extreme programming]] for example describes requirements informally using [[user story|user stories]] (short summaries fitting on an index card explaining one aspect of what the system should do), and considers it the developer's duty to directly ask the customer for clarification. Agile methodologies attempt to capture requirements in a series of automated [[acceptance test]]s.
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