Your Guide to Understanding and Improving Low Quality Analysis Scores

Seeing lots of red? Here’s why that’s okay — and what to do next.

😨 “My requirements are all red. Is something wrong?”
Not necessarily! 

If you're seeing a lot of red or low scores, it means your requirements have language or structure that needs improvement. This isn't a bad thing — you now have visibility on what needs to be done and clear direction on where to focus.  💪

Use the feedback, apply the changes, and your requirements will improve quickly.

Many issues are pretty quick to fix once you are aware of them (QVscribe's guidance will also help!). For example, if a requirement is missing an imperative, it will automatically score 1/5. Adding a clear imperative is a simple fix that immediately improves the score.

Why You Might See Lots of Flags

1. You're using a stricter rule set than you need
→ Some configurations are intentionally rigorous. Ensure that you are using the most appropriate configuration, or further customize your configuration settings to best match your project needs.

2. The requirements are early drafts
→ That's okay! If requirements are in an early draft stage, it may be worth it to choose a less strict configuration, like QV3 or QV4 (depending on where they are in your process).

3. You're seeing patterns that were invisible before
→ Ambiguous, unclear, and untestable requirements are easy to overlook without tools like QVscribe.

4. You're inheriting legacy requirements
→ Older specs often don’t follow today’s best practices. Now’s your chance to improve them.

What to do next

✅ Step 1: Prioritize by Score

Think of the traffic light example on this page. Focus on "red" requirements first. These are most likely to contain:

• Ambiguous or subjective terms which are at risk of being misunderstood.
• Vague or optional language that will be difficult to prove/test.
  

✅ Step 2: Focus on High-Priority Problem Types

Certain Problem Types or phrases may consistently impact your Quality Analysis score. If your organization has already identified these key issues, you can quickly filter the results by that specific Problem Type to focus your review.

Not sure where to begin? Start by looking at the most common Problem Types detected by QVscribe. One easy way to spot these patterns is by reviewing the Analysis Breakdown in the PDF Report.

✅ Step 3: Don’t Fix Everything at Once

Start with the most critical requirements or most common issues. Clean-up can be incremental. You don’t need green across the board to have good specs — just clarity and consistency.

Still have questions or are unsure where to start? Reach out to us for help! We are always happy to jump on a 1:1 call to see how your process can be improved :)