In short
The design space of digital products is boundless. Every product has to make trade-offs. Only the teams that make these design decisions, carefully and consciously, are able to reduce risks and increase value.
Functional requirements
Functional requirements describe what the system should do. They should address the scope and nothing but the scope. It's crucial to distinguish between the scope and the constraints. Good product managers and architects derive requirements from the intended outcome for the problem.
Quality attributes
Quality attributes
Quality attributes describe how the system should work. We prefer this name over the traditional wording "non-functional requirements". Architects sometimes dub them "ilities" (availability, usability, maintainability,...). They can be hard to quantify but, depending on the context, you may choose to formulate them with an emphasis on clarity over measurability.
Constraints
Constraints
Constrains are non-negotiable requirements. Or “what must be adhered to”. Regulatory compliance is an example of a hard constraint. Every product is unique. It goes without saying that a medical product will face more constraints than a lifestyle product.
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