Systems Analyst interview question
How do you make requirements testable?
Make a requirement testable with observable preconditions, an action, measurable expected outcomes, explicit boundaries and examples. Replace words such as fast or user-friendly with agreed thresholds and evidence.
Direct answer
What a strong answer covers
How it works
A requirement is testable when someone other than its author can set up the situation, perform the action, and check the result without asking questions. That means stating the preconditions as data, the action as a concrete input, and the expected outcome as something observable with a threshold: a value, a message, a state, a time limit. Vague qualities are replaced by agreed numbers, and boundaries are made explicit with examples on both sides of each limit. Writing them in a given-when-then form with real example values turns each requirement into a test case that developers, testers, and stakeholders read the same way.
Example
The requirement that large orders get free shipping became: given a cart total of 49.99, when the customer reaches checkout, then shipping is 4.90; given 50.00, then shipping is 0.00; given 50.00 with a discount code bringing it to 45.00, then shipping is 4.90 because the threshold applies after discounts. The last example settled an argument that had stalled the ticket for a week.
Common mistakes
- Accepting the system should be user-friendly as a requirement.
- Leaving boundary values ambiguous so 50.00 is interpreted differently by two developers.
- Writing criteria that describe the implementation rather than the observable result.
A useful answer structure
Answer from your own work.
Do not memorise a script: use only examples you can explain honestly in follow-up questions.
Open the desktop workspace and rehearse a clear answer in your own words.