Re: The GUI shall do...

Subject: Re: The GUI shall do...
From: Chris Morton <salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 10:00:14 -0800

We are not writing RFCs. Our SOPs are for internal use only, but we must be
able to demonstrate to auditors that 1) we have these docs and 2) each
employee has trained on his/her required subset each year. No auditor
actually reads our SOPs for content.

Instead, I'm calling on our engineers to please write their spec docs using
present tense and to avoid *shall* at all costs!

Formal filings, such as a 510(k) for the FDA, may be different. I doubt it,
though. That's why I'm interested in dredging up that prior thread, because
I do recall once poster commenting on the "requirement" falling out of
favor with the gubmint, too.

> Chris

Audience and purpose, folks ... audience and purpose. For most audiences
> and purposes, I agree. But for a formal requirements document, you should
> adhere to the key word usage specs laid out in RFC 2119 (
> www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2119.txt). It's not an anachronistic standard, it's a
> means of avoiding ambiguity.
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Follow-Ups:

References:
The GUI shall do...: From: Chris Morton
Re: The GUI shall do...: From: Anne Robotti
Re: The GUI shall do...: From: Chris Morton
RE: The GUI shall do...: From: Combs, Richard

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