Requirements gathering: A Process of Collecting the user's needs to solve a problem or issues and achieve an objective
Business Requirement: A series of needs that must be fulfilled to achieve a high-level objective.
Clear business requirements help ensure that the result of a project fulfills the stakeholders' needs.
1. One-on-one interviews
The most common technique for gathering requirements is to sit down with the clients and ask them what they need.
There are many good ways to plan the interview, but generally, you want to ask open-ended questions to get the interviewee to start talking and then ask probing questions to uncover requirements.
Open-ended interview questions allow interviewees to respond how they wish, and to what length they wish, appropriate when the analyst is interested in breadth and depth of reply
2. Group interviews
Simply, Group interviews are similar to the one-on-one interview, except that more than one person is being interviewed. These interviews work well when everyone is at the same level or has the same role. Group interviews require more preparation and more formality to get the information you want from all the participants.
Usually, IF the number is 5 or more, the interview will be named as “Facilitated Session”.
"Establish Project Goals and Objectives Early."
3. Joint application development (JAD)
Is a technique that allows the analyst to accomplish requirements analysis and design the user interface with the users in a group setting.
In other meaning, JAD sessions are similar to general facilitated sessions. However, the group typically stays in the session until the session objectives are completed. For a requirements JAD session, the participants stay in session until a complete set of requirements is documented and agreed to.
4. Questionnaires for Requirements Gathering
Questionnaires are much more informal, and they are good tools for gathering requirements from stakeholders in remote locations or those who will have only minor input into the overall requirements. Questionnaires can also be used when you have to gather input from dozens, hundreds, or thousands of people.
Questionnaires are useful in gathering information from key organization members about:
Attitudes – what people in the organization say they want.
Beliefs – what people think is true.
Behavior – what organizational members do.
Characteristics – properties of people or things.
5. Prototyping
Prototyping is a relatively modern technique for gathering requirements. In this approach, you gather preliminary requirements that you use to build an initial version of the solution — a prototype. You show this to the client, who then gives you additional requirements. You change the application and cycle around with the client again. This repetitive process continues until the product meets the critical mass of business needs or for an agreed number of iterations.
6. Use cases
Use cases are stories that describe how discrete processes work. The stories include people (actors) and describe how the solution works from a user perspective. Use cases may be easier for the users to articulate, although the use cases may need to be distilled later into the more specific detailed requirements.
7. Observation (Following people around)
This technique is especially helpful when gathering information on current processes. You may find, for instance, that some people have their work routine down to such a habit that they have a hard time explaining what they do or why. You may need to watch them perform their job before you can understand the entire picture. In some cases, you might also want to participate in the actual work process to get a hands-on feel for how the business function works today.
8. Request for proposals (RFPs)
If you are a vendor, you may receive requirements through an RFP. This list of requirements is there for you to compare against your capabilities to determine how close a match you are to the client's needs.
9. Brainstorming
On some projects, the requirements are not "uncovered" as much as they are "discovered." In other words, the solution is brand new and needs to be created as a set of ideas that people can agree to. In this type of project, simple brainstorming may be the starting point. The appropriate subject matter experts get into a room and start creatively brainstorming what the solution might look like. After all the ideas are generated, the participants prioritize the ones they think are the best for this solution. The resulting consensus of best ideas is used for the initial requirements.
10. Demo Screens
This technique is especially helpful when gathering information from a client how is not related to the Information technology field or the client does not know exactly what he needs. By providing basic screens “Not necessary to be active” and explaining the concept of the estimated system, the client will understand more and start to give the analyst the information and the requirements.
References:
Systems Analysis and Design Kendall & Kendall 9th Edition.
The Elements of Information Gathering: A Guide for Technical Communicators, Scientists, and Engineers First Edition.