Draft technical spec requirements d0.01

["Peter Meyer" <pmeyer@elkera.com.au>]

At the San Francisco face to face we made good progress defining the scope
of our work, as shown in the minutes posted by Dr Leff.

At the meeting, I was asked to prepare an outline of a requirements
specification to build on the work we had done.

I attach a zip file that contains:

* RTF version of the draft requirements document
* HTML version
   Directory of images for the HTML version
* PDF version.

I have taken the requirements specification quite a lot further than an
outline. I found I had to develop a fully reasoned description of the
problem before I was comfortable about the structure. The current draft
represents something that I believe we can work on to develop a
comprehensive set of requirements for our specification. It includes
specific requirements covering 3 processes to show how I believe we ought to
determine and state our requirements. There is much work to be done to
complete the requirements development.

I have tried to expose all the material issues that we need to resolve if we
are to succeed. I regret that it is a rather lengthy document but I don't
see any alternative if we are to reach a shared understanding of our
mission. It is not quite as lengthy as it seems due to the extensive use of
diagrams in the early parts.

I have also tried to define some new terminology that will enable us to
discuss some of the issues with more precision than has been possible in the
past. I welcome any comments on the success or otherwise of that endeavour.

Many of the views expressed are mine and I do not represent that they
reflect the TC's views or the result of our meeting in San Francisco. If TC
members disagree, please say so. I expect one or two things may be
controversial but largely it reflects things that have been discussed at one
time or another. That is the point of raising the issues so we can resolve
them now and not have them continue to dog us for another 2 years. If you
think the world works in a different way to that described in the draft,
please tell me exactly how you think its different. I will welcome all well
thought out contributions.

Finally, the TC already has draft material from Rolly. I have not been able
to incorporate much from that work but it is valuable as a reference to the
original inputs from TC members. As you can see from my draft, I believe the
requirements must start at a much higher level than our earlier efforts.

It would be very helpful if members can read the draft before our phone
conference next week.

Regards
Peter Meyer

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PM_Tech_spec_requirements_d0.01.zip