What Software Specification Tools Do You Use? 200
IronWilliamCash writes "I currently work for a small software development company and for many years we have been using internally built tools for all our software specifications, bugs, change requests and the like. Traceability is a big issue as we are CMMI level 2, and thus our internal processes need to be clear and everything must be documented. We are currently looking into getting a unified solution for this, and after quite a bit of Googling, there are quite a few different options (Contour, Kovair, MKS, Doors, CaliberFM, Accept360, etc.). I was wondering: what do other Slashdotters use in their everyday life? Does it fulfill your needs? And what is the most important part in a specification management tool?"
It depends on the platform (Score:5, Funny)
You really need to nail down exactly which platform you're talking about because the choices will differ depending on the platform.
For example, on Windows, you have either Notepad or WordPad. Now, I like Notepad because of its simplicity, but other people like their proportional fonts and formatting crutches. I guess you could splurge and go for something like Microsoft Word, but that's really overkill for most specification purposes.
Now if you're on Linux, you have a ton of choices. The easiest is Pine. If you've used Notepad, you'll most likely be able to pick up Pine pretty quickly. On the other hand, if you like needless complexity, vi might be the specification tool for you. You can do stuff like search based on regexes and copy and paste whole lines of text at once. If you're looking for something more fully featured, a lot of Linux platforms come with Emacs. I think it is a lot like Microsoft Word in that it has too many features that are simply unnecessary, but a lot of people like it.
Of course you're not using a Mac since these are not really programmers' tools. But if you are, I know there is a way to dual boot your system into Windows and get the full power of Windows without having to buy a separate PC. That's a pretty good deal.
When it comes to specifications, completeness, detail, accuracy, and readability are the most important things. Notepad and Pine are excellent tools to help you pound out good specs.
Re:It depends on the platform (Score:5, Funny)
Are you fucking kidding?
Asking that of BadAnalogyGuy is like asking a car if it meant to be on asphalt.