Traceability

The Traceability Chain

A useful mental model for how engineering documentation fits together:

Business Need
    ↓
Requirements (what)
    ↓
Acceptance Criteria (how to verify what)
    ↓
Design (how to build it)
    ↓
Implementation
    ↓
Tests (based on acceptance criteria)

Key Principles

1. Traceability is Key

Every requirement should link to:

• a design element
• one or more acceptance criteria
• one or more tests

2. Avoid Mixing Levels

Common mistakes:

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