Requirements That Make You Laugh
From the Requirements Blog
by Mike Frenette
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Have you ever run into a dangling participle or an object/verb mix up that made you laugh as you were reading requirements documents? While this may be funny at the time, it can lead to some very serious consequences at other times.
For example, I once saw this requirement:
"The officer holding the handheld device must be able to plug into the USB port of the computer in order to charge the unit and transfer data."
When I read it, I did a double take, and read it again. Now, we all know that the handheld device had to plug into the port, but really? Grammatical rules tell us the officer would be plugging in, not the device, and ... well... I don't even want to go there! Was it a simple typo? Or was the person writing this in a big hurry? Or was grammar and sentence structure not their strong point?
I'm sure I have made plenty of grammatical errors in this and past posts, so I am steeling myself for the result, but I am willing to take the risk!
So here is my "ask" as they say in the Telecom industry:
Have you run into any hilarious sentences in requirements documents? Or have you run into any that were misunderstood up until the time of user acceptance when no one found it funny?
Post your responses here!
Thanks!
Mike
Posted on: January 28, 2016 03:04 PM |
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Comments (17)
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Rami Kaibni
Community Champion
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten Associates
New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Interesting topic Mike. Well, I ran into such situations but definitely clarified them prior to execution.
I recall once that one of the quality requirements was: Collect five cubes from every batch for compressive strength testing.
It was written as follows: Collect five squares ... Like really squares :D
It happens all the time.
SANKAR HALDAR
SENIOR MANAGER - PROJECT CONTROL| GS ENGINEERING & CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION
Gurgaon, Haryana, India
This is interesting indeed , Mike & Rami.
Sometimes these errors , barring it''s serious results, produce good humor in otherwise a very sterile project environment. Though , not ia requirements document, some I have come across -
1. " Five critical mistakes , you will be FRIED " - posted in a project white board
2. "I DOES not come now, I will come YESTERDAY " - a non-English spoken vendor in mail reply
3. "Your grandma can''t die twice in last six months, no leave granted , show some other reason"
- in leave application commented by boss.
Every time, I enjoyed and laughed out my hearts.
In fact, light humor in workplace is rather good to break logjam ,avoid conflict and for distressing.
So, if someone says "I had a stomach upset and could not come ," normally I ask "Why , did you have to many pegs last evening ?"
PANKAJ KUMAR JOSHI
General Manager| Transrail Lighting Limited
Nainital, Uttrakhand, India
Many time it does happen due to translation.
In my recent project we have 3 packages during bid. We received the package C as per Arabic translation but it was written as package B in English translation of contract award letter.
Sometime when you speak in hurry, it happens. But generally to avoid any confusion in contractual matters, we should always check the sense before finalizing.
Once, on a large project, we had reqts from many different sources. Our Audit and Compliance group added several reqts, one of which was: "All passwords must be difficult to guess".
A noble thought, but how do we know if we have met the requirement?
Rami Kaibni
Community Champion
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten Associates
New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Great feedback guys.
@John: Good One ... There should have been sort of guidlines.
Mike Frenette
Manager, IT PMO| Halifax Water (retired)
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Rami - maybe the person who wrote the compressive strength requirement was describing what the cube would look like if it failed the test - it becomes a two-dimensional square! ;)
Sankar - I can understand why people would only come to work yesterday if they knew after five mistakes (or after a relative died more than once) they would be fried! ;)
Pankaj - I think the situation you describe might cause some serious legal problems if it want unnoticed!
John - How often do we see requirements like that? "Must be user friendly", "Must be fast", "Must be easy to learn", "must be not be too short", "must not be too long", "must comply with all regulations and policies", and so on. I have to say, though, that an Audit and Compliance group ought to perfectly understand metrics and the importance of being concise!
PANKAJ KUMAR JOSHI
General Manager| Transrail Lighting Limited
Nainital, Uttrakhand, India
Mike: My situation is clear, because Arabic language prevails here.
I like your above comments and blog.
Mike Frenette
Manager, IT PMO| Halifax Water (retired)
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Thanks, Pankaj.
And thanks to everyone else who has contributed so far. Keep them coming!
Rami Kaibni
Community Champion
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten Associates
New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Mike, Good One :D
Actually, they measure the compressive strength at the point of failure (Crushing Strength) so when it fails, it is basically crush: Shapeless ... I still was not able to figure out how he ended up with the squares statement - I have no idea what was on his mind.
Rami Kaibni
Community Champion
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten Associates
New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
@Pankaj: I worked in the gulf region, middle east, far east and the contract acceptable language was always ENGLISH so how come the contract is being translated in Arabic. I am missing you point here, can you elaborate please.
PANKAJ KUMAR JOSHI
General Manager| Transrail Lighting Limited
Nainital, Uttrakhand, India
@ Rami: It was a contract from Ministry of Electricity & Water, Kuwait. Our signed contract documents are in both language. In our bid document, it was clearly mentioned that in case of ambiguity Arabic translation will prevail.
It is very common in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to use Arabic languages for many type of official letters. You cannot deal with Municipality for any approval if you cannot speak,read and write in Arabic. We are keeping a translator in both countries for this reason.
Rami Kaibni
Community Champion
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten Associates
New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
@Pankaj: Yes I totally understand this and I hear you as I worked for years in Qatar and Dubai and our contracts where sometimes in both languages but the prevailing language was always the English Language because we were an international company operating in that country so we can't accept that the arabic language prevail because in case things went to court, it will go to an international court, not local.
Was your issue the same or your were working for a local company who operates there ? If local company then yes, this could happen as any disputes will be sorted out locally.
PANKAJ KUMAR JOSHI
General Manager| Transrail Lighting Limited
Nainital, Uttrakhand, India
@ Rami: I am working with a MNC but this rule is applicable to all companies who are working in these countries. In India, Qatar and UAE we never faced such issue.
I have worked in Spain, Angola and Peru where Spanish and Portuguese was used as contract language. In many African countries, only french language is used in contracts.
You can check that in many countries where German, French, Japaneses, Spanish, Portuguese or Chinese languages are only used, They don't use English in contracts as International languages.
It is your company choice to do business there or not.
Rami Kaibni
Community Champion
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten Associates
New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
@Pankaj: My experience is in Qatar, Dubai, Jordan, Palestine, China and Canada. I never worked in the countries you've mentioned above but it is good to know. This is new to me.
By the way, how do you manage when the contract is in Spanish or Portuguese ? You get it translated ?
One more question, what is MNC - What is the full name of your company ?
PANKAJ KUMAR JOSHI
General Manager| Transrail Lighting Limited
Nainital, Uttrakhand, India
@ Rami: We are usually translating it for understanding. But all companies have to adapt the contractual language in the countries, where they work.
We are Spanish companies which has many PM and Engineers from most of the part of world where we have business. When we sent reports to HO it is usually in Spanish or English.
MNC is an abbreviation for Multi- National company. My Company name is Isolux Corsan S.A.
Rami Kaibni
Community Champion
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten Associates
New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
@Pankaj: Thank you, I see your point, good luck.
Sergio Luis Conte
Helping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based Organizations
Buenos Aires, Argentina
The first thing each person who works with requirements must taking into account is: she/he will elicit needs/wants/desires/wishes/..etc that she/he must to translate into requirements. To do that, what I have used for years, is the IEEE Std 1233 where you can find a key concept to follow: the definition about "well formed requirement". When you have a well formed requirement on your hand and you state it inside the requirements especification document (I follow the IEEE standards too) then you have to perform quality activities on the requirements: quality assurance and quality control. That´s all. Any other type of things related to methods/methdologies/tools are mere accesories.
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