This blog post originates from Capers Jones LinkedIn comments about toxic requirements.  He posted a comment to a requirements article and brought up bloated requirements and toxic requirements.  I have never heard of the name “toxic requirements” perhaps that is uniquely Capers Jones identifier – I like it.  However, I believe I have experienced toxic requirements.  An example I have frequently witnessed would be requirements that are politically charged, not in the governmental sense but in the organization’s sense.  Have you seen the same set of requirements come in on many different projects? Each time the requirements are deferred or remove, yet these continue to re-appear.  These requirements may have little to do with the project objectives, but these requirements are the “pet” of some person or entity within the company.  We spend more time wrestling with these requirements than building the product. We will risk the significant portions of the project, specifically, those requirements that will actually achieve the objective and fulfill the customer needs.  In that sense, these requirements poison our intentions with the project and product.