Requirements traceability

Requirements Traceability, or just traceability, is all about establishing and maintaining a documented link between a requirement or a specific feature and its journey through the software development process. Think of it as creating an audit trail or a connected thread for each requirement, from its initial idea right through to the code that implements it and then the tests that verify it. 

The point of the exercise is to answer some potentially crucial questions. For instance, if a bug pops up, can you quickly see which requirement it impacts? If a requirement changes, what code needs to be updated, and which tests need to be re-run or adjusted? It looks to ensure that every part of the system can be traced back to a specific requirement, and equally, that every requirement is actually being addressed somewhere in the software. Think of it as knowing your coverage. 

This process can involve linking requirements to design specifications, to individual code components, to test cases, and even to the bugs we find along the way. When it is done well, it gives us a clear picture of coverage, helps us manage changes effectively, and makes root cause analysis of bugs a potentially much easier job. It is about understanding the "why" and the "what" behind every piece of the software puzzle, giving everyone on the team, especially us testers, the clarity we need. It can, however, take a lot of time and cost to maintain, so using requirements traceability, or just traceability, will be very context-dependent.