Write requirements that match the system you actually have
Understand how business rules are actually implemented, identify gaps between specs and reality, and write requirements that engineering can execute.
Requirements written without knowing the system
- Requirements are written without understanding the existing implementation.
- "The system should do X" collides with "the system already does X differently."
- Business logic is scattered across the codebase with no central documentation.
- Gap analysis between specs and implementation is manual and error-prone.
- Changing requirements is risky because the impact is unknown.
Requirements grounded in how the system actually works
Before you write a spec, check what the code already does. Catch the conflicts between "should" and "already" before the dev does.
What you can ask the codebase
Business Logic Discovery
Find how the pricing tier logic is implemented, what criteria determine free shipping eligibility, and how late payment penalties are calculated.
Spec-to-Implementation Mapping
Verify whether the implementation matches the original spec, what business rules exist for order cancellation, and how the SLA calculation actually works.
Gap Analysis
Compare documented requirements against actual behavior, identify undocumented business rules in code, and find discrepancies between spec and implementation.
Change Impact Assessment
Understand what would be affected if the discount rules change, where else account status is used in calculations, and which downstream systems depend on a given data format.
UAT Preparation
Build acceptance criteria from the actual implementation, identify edge cases for test scenarios, and verify expected behavior from code, not just documents.
How business analysts use CodeAlive
- 1
Requirements Gathering
Understand the current state before defining the future state. Identify existing patterns to extend and discover hidden business rules.
- 2
Requirements Validation
Verify assumptions about existing functionality, check for conflicts with the current implementation, and ensure requirements are implementable.
- 3
UAT Preparation
Derive expected behavior from code, identify edge cases for test scenarios, and document acceptance criteria from the actual implementation.
- 4
Change Management
Assess the impact of requirement changes, identify systems that need updates, and communicate technical scope to stakeholders.
What changes for business analysts
- Write requirements grounded in how the system actually works.
- More accurate gap analysis.
- Faster spec-to-implementation validation.
Write requirements engineering can ship
Ask the code what the rules actually are.