Why Projects Usually Derail When Requirements Documents Are Poorly Written
Anyone who has worked on projects knows this: the biggest fear in website development is not technical difficulty, but "I thought you understood." The boss says, "Make a corporate website, something impressive," the designer interprets it as a dark tech style, the developer interprets it as a three-page static site, and when the first version comes out, nobody is satisfied. By the third revision, the budget is already blown.
A requirements document is not a bureaucratic formality. Its only purpose is: to turn verbal consensus into verifiable written text. When it is written clearly, quotes are accurate, timelines are stable, and acceptance has a basis. Below, based on real project experience, I break this down into several parts.
1. Write the "Business Objectives Document" First, Don't Rush to Draw Pages
Many people start by drawing prototypes and choosing templates. This is a classic sequencing mistake. The first step should answer three questions:
- What business problem does this site or mini program solve? Is it customer acquisition, brand presentation, or replacing manual processes?
- Who uses it? Customers, internal employees, or channel partners? Different roles see completely different things.
- What is the success criterion? For example, "bring in 30 qualified inquiries per month after launch," not "make it look good."
Take a specific scenario: an industrial equipment company wants to redesign its corporate website. The old site's problem was that traffic was not low, but inquiries were few. After digging deeper, it turned out that what customers really wanted to see were model specifications, on-site case photos, and after-sales response times, while the old homepage was full of corporate honors and the boss's speech. If this conclusion is not written clearly during the requirements phase, the redesign is just a new skin and the problem remains.
Pitfall to avoid: Do not use "reference this or that website" as a substitute for requirements description. A reference site can only show aesthetic preference, not functional logic.
2. Functional Requirements Document: Write to a Level of Detail That Can Be "Clicked Through"
The feature list is the core of the requirements document. The standard for judging it is simple: can a tester use a single requirement to determine pass or fail?
It is recommended to write it in a table or list, with each item including: feature name, operation path, expected result, and exception cases. For example, for a booking-type mini program development project:
- User selects a store → selects a date → selects a time slot → enters phone number → submits
- If that time slot is already fully booked, the button is grayed out and displays "This time slot is fully booked"
- After successful submission, send an SMS notification and write it into the backend order list
Pay attention to the last two items—exception flows and notification mechanisms are the easiest to miss and the easiest to turn into emergency patches after launch. This is especially true for admin systems: permission levels, data export, and operation logs are needed in almost every project, yet six out of ten requirements documents fail to mention them.
Pitfall to avoid: Distinguish between "must have" and "later." Stuffing every idea into phase one will inevitably cause the timeline to spiral out of control. It is recommended to clearly mark P0 (must do in phase one) and P1 (planned for phase two).
3. Content and Asset Document: The Most Underestimated Part
Technical development can be rushed with overtime, but no one can think up the content for you. It is all too common to discover a week before launch that product photos have not been taken, the company profile has not been written, and qualification certificates have not been scanned.
At the requirements stage, you should list clearly:
- What text, images, and videos are needed for each page, who is responsible for providing them, and when they will be delivered
- Image specification requirements (size, ratio, whether a white background is required)
- Whether multilingual versions are needed, and who will handle translation
For App development projects, you also need to consider app store assets: icons, screenshots, privacy policy text, software copyright or filing materials. These approval steps often take one to two weeks, and if not prepared in advance, they will block the launch milestone.
Pitfall to avoid: Put content delivery deadlines into the project schedule and agree that "schedule extensions caused by delayed assets" are borne by the client side. This is not about shifting blame; it is about giving both parties clear expectations.
4. Technical and Compliance Documents: They Determine Whether the Project Can Launch Smoothly
This part is more technical, but both the boss and the technical lead should review it:
- Servers and domains: Whose account is used? Who is the filing entity? Domestic servers must be filed, and the cycle is usually 7 to 20 working days
- Data and interfaces: Is integration needed with existing ERP, CRM, payment, or SMS platforms? Who provides the interface documentation?
- Security requirements: For projects involving user information, clarify requirements for data encryption, login protection, and protection against unauthorized access
- Compliance requirements: Mini programs and Apps involve privacy policies, user agreements, and permission request explanations. Missing any one of them may lead to rejection during review
If the project involves payments, memberships, or large amounts of user data, it is recommended to arrange a security testing assessment during the requirements phase. Many vulnerabilities are not a matter of development skill, but because security requirements were never mentioned in the requirements at all, so development naturally followed the lowest standard.
Pitfall to avoid: Do not wait until development is finished to ask, "Can it withstand attacks?" Security is designed in, not patched on.
5. Acceptance Criteria and Change Mechanism: Give the Project a Proper Beginning and End
The final section of the requirements document should clearly state two things:
Acceptance criteria—how each feature is considered passed, compatibility requirements for pages on different devices, and performance baselines (such as homepage load time).
Change mechanism—what happens if requirements change? It is recommended to agree that minor adjustments go through written confirmation, while major changes require reassessment of timeline and cost. This is not nitpicking; it avoids both sides becoming unhappy halfway through the project.
When It Makes Sense to Work with MIC Studio
If your team has a product manager and a complete technical stack, there is absolutely no problem writing the requirements document yourself. But in the following situations, bringing in an external team to help sort things out will save much more trouble:
- The company has no dedicated product person, the boss defines requirements personally, and items are easily missed
- The project involves website development, mini program development, and App development at the same time, requiring a unified technical solution
- There are security requirements, and website security testing or reverse engineering assessment is needed
- The requirements document has been written, but technical feasibility and workload are still uncertain
Before taking on a project, MIC Studio usually conducts a round of requirements clarification first, breaking vague descriptions into executable items, and then provides a schedule and quote. When this step is done solidly, the probability of rework later is much lower.
Conclusion: Three Actionable Recommendations
1. Before kickoff, write a one-page business objectives document that clearly states who it is for, what problem it solves, and how success is measured. This is more useful than drawing ten prototype screens.
2. Mark the feature list with P0 and P1, do only what is necessary in phase one, and reserve timeline and budget for the parts that truly affect the business.
3. Write content assets and security compliance into the requirements document, and agree on delivery deadlines. These two areas are high-incidence causes of project delays and launch rejections.
A requirements document does not need to be thick, but every item must be actionable and verifiable. Thinking it through before starting is always cheaper than changing things as you go.