4. Functional: These requirements
are the processes, information and
interactions that the client wants
built and includes how the system
and its environment interact
Nonfunctional: These
requirements are about operational
and technical aspects, like
encryption, security, disaster
recovery, hosting and business
continuity
5. Each requirement gathering technique has
advantages
Cost and time are important factors when
picking which method to use and many times
you can use more than one to ensure you
gather all the relevant information needed
Here are 12 requirement gathering techniques
to consider
6. Ask open-ended questions: To get the most of your
interview time, ask questions that require more than a
yes or no answer
Pinpoint details or rephrase to gain overall
insight: People answer questions differently and it is
up to you to adjust
Interview the right people: Make sure you interview
the right stakeholders who can give you relevant and
insightful information
Share the questions ahead of time: This is a
respectful gesture and also helps the interviewee
best prepare their answers, which benefits the team
and project while saving time in the actual interview
7. Group interviews work best with interviewees
of the same job position or level, as they are
familiar with the topics at hand and what areas
of opportunity exist
Discussing each topic in a group setting also
allows you to refine and clarify the
requirement, which can lead to better
outcomes and understanding useful to the
project
Scheduling group interviews is one challenge,
since finding a time that works well for many
people requires effort
8.
9. A focus group is a method of market research
with a set group of participants to garner
feedback
The focus group can offer input about the
needs, problems or opportunities to identify
and create project requirements or they can
validate and refine ones already brought out
The focus group participants can be
employees of the client or representative of
the users for this work
10. Survey
Keep them shorter versus longer so people are more likely
to complete them
Focus on a feature or topic, rather than many at once
Use ratings to generate data analysis responses, like
"strongly agree," "agree" or "disagree"
Have some open-ended questions to allow free-form
responses to get detailed input
Use the six question words to structure your survey: who,
what, when, where, why and how, like "How does the user
login," or "Where are the results shown in the program?"
11. Requirement workshops are a great way to
gather information and as a facilitator, it is
important to be prepared for the session to
go well
Consider meeting some attendees ahead of
time to know how their personalities and
work styles will integrate and to understand
their views of where they see the project
going
This method often requires the most
planning and preparation, and since you
can't always have the right people in the
room together, it is wise to run a few
workshops to get the most requirement
information gathering possible
12. Construct a visual of the end-to-end process a
person follows to do their job daily
Be mindful when asking questions to not disrupt
seeing a natural work environment
Observe, take notes, remain unbiased and keep
from making judgments
Gather any documentation that helps you find
out procedures, like a user training manual
Observe well enough to understand fully what a
platform, software or device is capable of
13.
14. Interface analysis helps create usable,
effective and popular software for a client,
group or consumer
With interface analysis, you review the human
and artificial intelligence aspect, discovering
how a person uses the system and how the
system internally works
You review the how the program or software
interacts with other external systems to make
sure and notice any concerns that are not
widely visible to users
15. Document analysis includes reviewing the
existing system's documentation, like user
manuals and instructions
It is helpful particularly for any changeover risk
mitigation and you can glean important
information that pushes the boundary of
establishing new requirements or validating
existing ones
It is helpful to have multiple people review the
documents and hold a meeting afterwards to
compile your insights to make sure nothing
gets missed
16. Reverse engineering
Reverse engineering is helpful for situations
lacking documentation of an existing system
where you cannot perform document analysis
You can use reverse engineering to identify what
a software system or platform does, though it
cannot show you what a system should do or
where its areas of opportunity are, so it is helpful
to use this technique alongside other ones
17. Prototyping is a newer technique used in
requirement gathering
You create a prototype based on initial
gathering results, like brainstorming or
group interviews, to show a client an
early version of a workable solution
The client can then give more
requirements or refine existing ones to
advance the project
18. Simplifying the process and saving time by
consolidating phone calls, emails and other meetings
Identifying participants, users and issues quickly and
collectively
Clarifying the requirements unanimously
Transitioning from one phase of development to the
next seamlessly
Satisfying the customer because they helped develop
the system and approved the stages of work
