Writing & communication · Research & reasoning · Software engineering
Ambiguity.
A situation in which wording or evidence supports more than one plausible interpretation.
Useful when an instruction can be followed in incompatible ways.
“Identify the ambiguity in “archive old reports” and ask which date and archive behavior I mean.”
A closer look
A pronoun can refer to two different objects; a requirement can leave a threshold unspecified. Name the competing interpretations, then clarify the one that matters. Merely adding more words may leave the same uncertainty in place.
Put it to work
“Replace “update it after the review” with the exact item to update and the event that triggers it.”
A useful distinction
Ambiguity involves multiple interpretations. Vagueness involves an unclear boundary; a requirement can have either or both.