Clear requirements bridge the gap between product vision and technical implementation. Start requirements to the development team with a simple and unambiguous problem statement that ties to user needs or business goals. Instead of "Add a favorites feature," specify "Help users quickly access their most-used tools by adding a favorites system, based on research showing users revisit the same 3-4 tools daily."

Break down requirements into functional and non-functional categories. Functional requirements describe specific behaviors: "Users can add/remove favorites with a single click" or "Favorites sync across devices." Non-functional requirements cover performance and quality: "Favorites list updates within 0.5 seconds" or "System handles up to 100 saved favorites per user."

Each requirement should specify what success looks like. For example, "When a user clicks the star icon, the item adds to favorites and appears in their favorites list, and the star icon fills with color within 0.5 seconds."