The supplied examination source identifies D as correct. The statement "produce client memos faster" is a business objective , not an implementable engineering requirement. The first engineering activity is therefore requirements decomposition: determine what functionality is required and what technical characteristics must support it.
Functional requirements might specify how analysts provide source information, what stages the agent performs, whether it researches, outlines, drafts, revises, or cites material, which systems it accesses, what output it returns, and where human approval occurs. Infrastructure and non-functional requirements then define latency, access control, confidentiality, context size, availability, auditability, model selection, integration interfaces, token cost, observability, and operational constraints.
Anthropic's developer lifecycle similarly separates defining measurable success criteria from choosing and implementing model capabilities. Its evaluation guidance emphasizes establishing specific, measurable success criteria before optimizing a model or prompt. Claude's agent configuration also separates implementation components such as the model, system prompt, tools, MCP servers, and Skills—choices that logically follow requirement definition.
A is useful discovery but prematurely assumes a prompt-driven drafting implementation. B is precedent-driven rather than requirement-driven. C selects technology before defining what the system must accomplish.
Relevant topics: Understanding Reqs, functional requirements, infrastructure requirements, non-functional requirements, acceptance criteria, and solution decomposition .
