ABSTRACT
Specications dene problems. Ideally, they would be prepared before any money is spent on detailed design. Some would say that the specication should be released before any budget is spent on design, period! But, that is probably not realistic. While performance requirements can be dened prior to allocation of functionality to a physical entity, it is nearly impossible to dene design constraints (interface, environmental, and specialty engineering requirements) without some knowledge of the design concept for the item covered by the specication. The interface requirements must be dened in context with the technology associated with these interfaces (electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, etc.), for example.
