Before your DV team writes a single testbench line, make sure you have these 7 things. (Most teams skip at least 3.)

The Pre-Testbench Verification Checklist: ✅ 1. Spec version locked — Which version of the spec is RTL implementing? If it's not locked, you're verifying a moving target. ✅ 2. Interface list finalized — All clocks, resets, interfaces, and their reset polarity documented. Surprises here cost days. ✅ 3. Functional coverage model drafted — Write your covergroups before writing your driver. Coverage-first design. ✅ 4. Corner cases listed explicitly — Max burst, min burst, back-to-back, simultaneous read/write, error conditions. If it's not listed, it won't be tested. ✅ 5. DUT reset sequence verified standalone — 40% of RTL bugs I've seen live in the reset sequence. Verify it first, verify it separately. ✅ 6. Scoreboard expected behavior documented — What is the DUT supposed to do for every transaction type? Write it down before you see DUT output. ✅ 7. Regression pass criteria agreed — What does "verification done" look like? Code coverage %, functional coverage %, number of passing tests? Agree upfront. Teams that nail this checklist finish 3–5 weeks faster. Hashtags: #HardwareVerification #UVM #SystemVerilog #ASIC #VerificationEngineering #RTL #EDA #ChipDesign