Tacit requirements are usually undocumented and often just expected. Deciphering such requirements comes with experience and practice. As a tester, it's important to test against tacit requirements and expectations as these often get ignored during the development lifecycle, time pressure, iterative updates, etc. Examples of tacit requirements:  Consistency: Uniform behaviour within and across features as well as other similar applications.  History: Backward compatibility with previous versions. Changes to a feature will have no impact on other features.  Familiar user expectations: Aligning user experience with industry norms or comparable products. Example: It is assumed that a double click will open a file. 

Implicit requirements are necessary yet may not always be documented. They are assumed to be understood and necessary. Although these requirements are available in documented format they are usually available outside the project context. Examples of implicit requirements: Legal requirements: Ensuring the application is compliant with data protection and accessibility laws. Examples: ADA, GDPR, etc. Regulatory standards: Industry-specific rules exist and any software built for that industry must comply with them.  Marketing claims: If a marketing advertisement mentions "lightning-fast performance," it is expected to be delivered in the coming versions and releases too.  User desires: Common user desires such as responsive design. 

Explicit requirements are documented, detailed, and directly stated within the project scope. They are often the starting point for development and testing. Examples of various forms of explicit requirements:  Formally written functional requirements: User stories, feature descriptions, acceptance criteria, etc.  Quality Characteristic (Non-functional / Para-functional) requirements: Performance benchmarks, accessibility, security standards, etc. Design documentation: Includes user flow journeys, architecture diagrams, logical flowcharts, site maps, etc.  Wireframes: Visual guides by designers for layout and UI (user interface) design.  Help files / FAQs: Support documentation and collaterals to guide users.  Error catalogs: Lists of error codes with their descriptions. 

Functional requirements are requirements used to describe a system’s intended behaviour. These often act as the base for all the development and testing work to begin. For example: "The system allows users to export reports in PDF format."

System mapping, also known as modelling, is the process of visually abstracting out some dimension of the entire system or product. These techniques help us communicate, analyse, and visualise the interaction between various system components.

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The lifeline of creating any software product is its requirements. They work like a corridor between business goals and technical outcomes. They provide a structure for the product that will be created, how individual parts will work, and expectations of the product. They also provide a foundation for the overall software engineering work. However, not all requirements are equal, nor do they come in the same size or even format.

A meme titled "Tester’s Life" hilariously contrasts two views: Reality: A chaotic barcode of black (testing) and gray (everything else testers actually do—like meetings, bug triage, and wondering why things are on fire). What People Think: Mostly black, because apparently, all we do is “run tests” and sprinkle in some gray for coffee breaks. Legend: Black = "Executing Tests," Gray = "Other Stuff" (aka the real MVP of a tester’s day).

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