requirementlike

Requirementlike is an adjective used in requirements engineering and product development to describe statements or artifacts that resemble requirements in form or intent but do not yet satisfy the formal criteria of a requirement. The label helps teams manage ambiguity by separating ideas from committed specifications.

Common characteristics include hedged language, absence of measurable criteria, missing acceptance tests, uncertain scope, and dependence on future decisions. These items often arise in early discovery, brainstorming, or informal notes and are typically flagged for later refinement.

A true requirement is expected to be verifiable, traceable, feasible, and testable. A requirementlike artifact lacks one or more of these properties, making it unsuitable as a baseline for design or acceptance.

Examples include "The system should load quickly" or "Users should be able to customize settings" without specific metrics or acceptance criteria. By contrast, a refined item would specify metrics, constraints, and verification methods.

Process: during backlog refinement or requirements workshops, teams label items as requirementlike and then rewrite or split them into concrete requirements with acceptance criteria, performance targets, and constraints.

See also: requirements engineering, user story, non-functional requirement, acceptance criteria, backlog refinement, SMART criteria; standards such as ISO/IEC/IEEE 29148.