What is the difference between requirements and requests?

Requirements are formal, documented specifications that define what must be built. Requests are informal asks that may or may not be agreed upon. Requirements are binding; requests are not necessarily approved or prioritized.

What are functional vs. non-functional requirements?

Functional requirements describe what the system does (e.g., users can log in with email). Non-functional requirements describe how well it performs (e.g., login must complete within 2 seconds, system must be 99.9% available).

Who is responsible for gathering requirements?

Typically product managers, business analysts, or requirements engineers work with stakeholders, customers, and end users to gather requirements. The entire product team then uses these to build and test the solution.

Can requirements change during a project?

Requirements can change, but it should be a controlled process. Major changes are managed through change requests and may affect scope, timeline, and budget. Agile teams review and refine requirements continuously in shorter cycles.

How do you know if a requirement is met?

Each requirement should have clear acceptance criteria that describe exactly what done looks like. Testing teams verify that the implemented feature satisfies all acceptance criteria before marking the requirement as complete.

requirements meaning in tech — Speak Tech English

Commonness	5/5
Versatility	5/5
Formality	CasualFormalNeutral
Spoken ↔ Written	SpokenWrittenBoth
Directness ↔ Diplomatic	DirectDiplomaticDirect
Region	US and UK

Say it like this

✓Meet the requirements

✓Clarify the requirements

✓Requirements gathering

✓Functional requirements

✓Non-functional requirements

✓The requirements are set in stone

Real examples

in a standup

"We finished the API endpoint, but we need to review the requirements for the error handling first."

in a code review

"This implementation does not match the requirements we agreed on; we need to add support for batch processing."

in a team meeting

"Before we start development, let us make sure all the requirements are clear and everyone understands the scope."

Don't say this

Handle with care. Do not confuse requirements (what must be done) with requests (what someone asks for). Requirements are formal specifications, not casual wishes.

✕We need to requirements the system.

✓We need to meet the requirements of the system.— Requirements is a noun, not a verb. Use 'meet,' 'fulfill,' or 'satisfy' with requirements.

✕The client made a requirements yesterday.

✓The client made a request yesterday.— Requirements are formal specifications, not casual requests. Use 'request' for a one-off ask.

✕These are nice-to-have requirements.

✓These are nice-to-have features or optional requirements.— True requirements are mandatory. Nice-to-have items are typically called features or lower-priority items.

Other forms

noun

requirements

"The requirements for this project are documented in Jira."

noun (singular/uncountable)

requirement

"One key requirement is that the API must handle 10,000 requests per second."

adjective

required

"The required fields are marked with an asterisk."

Often used with

gather requirementsTo collect and document what needs to be built

define requirementsTo specify clearly what the system must do

meet requirementsTo fulfill or satisfy all the specified needs

functional requirementsFeatures and behaviors the system must perform

non-functional requirementsPerformance, security, and scalability specifications

business requirementsWhat the organization needs the system to achieve

requirements documentFormal specification detailing all project needs

Similar words

specificationsMore technical term; often used interchangeably in engineering contexts

specsInformal abbreviation of specifications; common in tech conversations

acceptance criteriaMore specific; describes exactly when a requirement is considered done

Opposites

constraintslimitations

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Practice

Try it

4 quick exercises

Complete the sentence

1. Before we start coding, we need to _______ all the requirements from the stakeholders.

Pick the most natural phrasing

2. Your PM wants to make sure the team understands what must be built. Which sounds most natural?

Let me explain the requirements.Let me requirement you on this.Let me requirement this feature.Let me make a requirement.

Spot the mistake

3. Which sentence uses 'requirements' incorrectly?

We must satisfy all the requirements before launch.The requirements are clearly documented in our spec.We need to requirements this bug fix into production.Non-functional requirements include performance targets.

Rewrite naturally

4. Rewrite this in natural tech English using 'requirements': 'The customer told us what features they need, and we have written down everything they said in a document.'

Questions

Quick poll

Have you said "requirements" in a standup this week?

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