Requirements Gathering Techniques

Overview Requirements gathering techniques provide project team members

with a choice of methods for eliciting needs or requirements from
stakeholders and for validating requirements with stakeholders.
Certain techniques are appropriate in gathering stakeholder needs,
while other techniques are most helpful in defining high-level and
detailed requirements, or validating detailed requirements with the
stakeholders.

Three The three recommended techniques are Interview, JAD Session,

Techniques and Survey Method.

This document will explain the characteristics of the recommended

requirements management techniques and when the techniques
are appropriate for use within the requirements management
process.

Interview Technique
Summary An interview is a conversation with stakeholders to elicit or validate
needs and requirements. An interview may include one or more
stakeholders. The interview may also involve a question and
answer session used to discover other potential stakeholders and
any discrepancies between needs; the high-level requirements
derived from those needs; and the resulting detailed requirements.
Interviews facilitate obtaining approval from stakeholders on their
needs, requirements, and any changes to them.

Advantages • Generally easy, because it can be done with minimal

preparation.
• Interviews of individuals and small groups require less
planning and scheduling effort than large workshops.
• Interviews of individuals and small groups require less
stakeholder commitment than large workshops.
• Interviews provide an opportunity to explore or clarify topics
in more detail.

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 Disadvantages • The questions used in the interview may reflect the
interviewer’s preconceived ideas, which can influence the
responses.
• For projects with a large number of stakeholders the
interviews technique can be time-consuming and inefficient.
• Conflicts and inconsistencies between stakeholder
information need to be resolved in additional interviews.
• This technique does not allow different stakeholders to hear
and elaborate upon the information being relayed.

Formal 1. Identify stakeholders to be interviewed

Interview 2. Obtain a general understanding of the customers business
Process Steps
3. Develop interview questions using open-ended questions
4. Set meeting time and location for the interview
5. Provide a set of questions to interviewees prior to the interview
(if they will need to prepare for the interview)
6. Use one or more Recorders to accurately preserve results of the
interview
7. Provide results to interviewees for confirmation of content

Informal 1. Identify stakeholders to be interviewed

Interview 2. Obtain a general understanding of the customers business
Process Steps
3. Develop interview questions (for interviewer’s use only) to make
sure certain questions are answered during the session
4. Set up a casual meeting or telephone conversation time for the
interview.
5. Takes handwritten notes during the interview; avoid using
electronic data capture.
6. Provide results to interviewee for confirmation of content

Sample • What would it look like?

Interview • What would convince you?

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 Questions • What have you already tried?
• Why now?
• What will you settle for?

Interview The Interview Leader may be responsible for identifying the

Leader Role stakeholders or by working with the appropriate project team
member to get the list of stakeholders. The Interview Leader is
responsible for preparing questions ahead of the scheduled
meeting and distributing the questions to the stakeholder or
stakeholders. The leader is also responsible to either record the
notes or schedule a recorder to attend the meeting to record
information discussed in the meeting and any decisions resulting
from the meeting.

Recorder The recorder is responsible for recording the information discussed

in the interview and any decisions resulting from the meeting. In
informal interviews the leader is also the recorder.

Stakeholder The stakeholder is responsible for providing their needs,

expectations, priorities, and constraints. They also validate the
results of the interview.

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Joint Application Development (JAD) Technique
Summary The Joint Application Development (JAD) technique is an extended,
facilitated workshop. It involves collaboration between
stakeholders and systems analysts to identify needs or
requirements in a concentrated and focused effort.

Advantages • This technique allows for the simultaneous gathering and

consolidating of large amounts of information.
• This technique produces relatively large amounts of high-
quality information in a short period of time.
• Discrepancies are resolved immediately with the aid of the
facilitator.
• This technique provides a forum to explore multiple points of
view regarding a topic.

Disadvantages • Requires significant planning and scheduling effort.

• Requires significant stakeholder commitment of time and
effort.
• Requires trained and experienced personnel for facilitation
and recording.

JAD Process 1. Define Session: Define the purpose, scope, and objectives
Steps of the JAD session, selecting the JAD team, invite and obtain
commitment to attend sessions from the appropriate
stakeholders, and schedule the session.
It is important to obtain management commitment to support the
process and identify the appropriate stakeholders.
2. Research Product: Become more familiar with the product
or service, gather preliminary information, obtaining any models.
3. Prepare: Prepare any visual aids, developing a realistic
agenda, training the recorder, and preparing the meeting room.
4. Conduct Session: Follow agenda to gather and document
the project needs and requirements. It is important to ensure all
participants are given equal treatment during the process.

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 5. Draft the Documents: Prepare the formal documents. The
information captured in the JAD session is further refined
through analysis efforts, open questions or issues discovered
through the sessions are resolved, and the final document is
returned to stakeholders for review and validation.

Roles The JAD team is the very heart of the JAD process and the
selection and inclusion of stakeholders are critical to the overall
success of a JAD session. The team should consist of a mixture of
skills from a variety of individuals. The participants may include
Business Process Owners, Operations Managers, Client
Representatives, Business Analysts, Business Managers, End
Users, Data Administrators, Systems Analysts, System Designers,
Business Analysts, Advisors Project leaders, Auditors, Security,
Standards, Vendors, Quality Assurance, Contingency Planners,
Production Planners, IT Specialists, Human Resource
Representatives, and Trainers.

Executive Management commitment is required for any needs or

Sponsor requirements gathering process to succeed. It is very important for
the JAD session team to have a management sponsor. The
executive sponsor may be a manager of the business area whose
needs and requirements are being addressed during the JAD
session. The sponsor does not have to actively participate in every
JAD session. It might be advisable to attend the first JAD session
to show support and, perhaps, the final JAD session to review the
results and make comments. The sponsor should be available
throughout the period of the JAD process to solve any serious
problems or issues that may arise. The JAD facilitator must work
closely with the management sponsor and provide full briefings on
progress.

Facilitator The facilitator is the key person in the group and is responsible for
planning, executing and managing the session. They should be a
respected, skillful leader with a good reputation within the
organization. JAD facilitator skills do not happen by chance, and
the skills may have to be learned through specialized training and
experience. The choice of facilitator may mean the difference
between a good session and a poor one. It is essential that the
facilitator be given authority to work closely with the executive
sponsor to achieve the objectives of the JAD session. The
facilitator will know how to direct people, to be able to get the best

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 information from them. JAD Facilitators should be able to:
1. Focus on the process, not the information content, of the JAD
session.
2. Be unbiased and neutral, and remain impartial. It is important
that the reporting structure is such that the facilitator cannot be
influenced or biased.
3. Use organizational skills to lead groups and keep the sessions
on track.
4. Ensure each subject under discussion is accurately recorded
and completed to the stakeholders’ satisfaction before
proceeding.
5. Stop sideline conversations.

Recorder The recorder is responsible for documenting the JAD sessions.

This must be done in an interactive fashion and the recorder must
work closely with the JAD facilitator. Many ideas and suggestions
will be discussed. A large session may need multiple recorders.
The recorder must capture the important discussion and decisions
made, who made them and why. Laptop computers, white boards,
flip charts, or overhead devices are particularly useful.

It is the responsibility of the recorder to distribute and file the

documentation at the end of each JAD session or as soon as
possible after the session or topic has concluded. It can be a
difficult task and should not be underestimated. The recorder
should have the following skills:
1. Knowledge of the stakeholder business area. In order to record
the results properly, the recorder needs to understand the
concepts of what was discussed.
2. Excellent analytical skills. The recorder needs to be able to
analyze what was discussed and presented in the JAD session.
3. Experiences with JAD tools if any are used. The JAD tool may
be a word processing software, an electronic whiteboard, or a
CASE tool. Whatever tool is used, the recorder has to have a
good knowledge of how to use the tool effectively.
4. Good technical writing skills.

Stakeholder The participation of stakeholders in the JAD session is widely

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 accepted as essential to its ultimate success. Without their
involvement, the JAD session will not be productive. The whole
point of a JAD session is to bring stakeholder and performing
organization together in a structured environment. Stakeholders
will rapidly gain a sense of involvement and ownership in the
product or service development where a JAD session is used. This
is vital to its overall success. Most important, the stakeholders will
get the product they want and not one that has been designed
poorly for them.

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Survey Method
Summary The Survey Method is an electronic or paper based method of
soliciting needs or requirements from stakeholders. The survey
method is a list of questions, directed at identifying stakeholder
needs or requirements.

Survey 1. A survey can reach a large number of stakeholders or other

Method sources of information.
Advantages 2. A survey is an excellent tool to gather a significant amount of
focused data in a short period of time.
3. Survey method can provide good results when used to validate
assumptions after the use of the interviewing technique.
4. A Survey method is a good tool to gather statistical preference
data.
5. A survey requires little scheduling effort.
6. A survey requires little stakeholder commitment of time and
effort.

Survey 1. The response level is often low, especially to large surveys.

Method 2. Responses are usually limited to the realm of the questions
Disad- asked, which reflect the analyst’s preconceived ideas or
vantages assumptions of the survey designer.
3. Well-made surveys require trained and experienced personnel
to develop.
4. Development time can be significant.
5. Conflicts and inconsistencies in information from stakeholders
require additional analysis to resolve.

Survey 1. Decide what you want to know and how you will analyze the
Method data before you develop questions.
Process Steps 2. Look for questions or ideas from other sources to inspire the
writing of your method
3. Write questions to be as specific as possible. Use simple,
straightforward language. Avoid the use of jargon or
terminology specific to a few people.
4. Write short questions to ensure reader understanding, including:

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 - Limit the number of choices available to a question to five
or less (if applicable).
- Offer a "don't know" or "no opinion" option, so people do
not invent answers.
- Vary the format of the questions to keep people
interested.
5. When you have written the survey questions, it is important to
test them to make sure that the language is current, the
questions are not biased, and the questions are relevant to the
purpose of the survey. Deliver the set of questions to the
stakeholder for their response. Provide a date by which the
answers are to be returned.

Survey The survey method author is responsible for crafting questions to

Method - solicit the needs and requirements from stakeholders. Once the
answers have been received, the author is responsible for
Author Role
recording the answers into a document for confirmation by the
survey method respondents.

To develop a useful method, the writer should be familiar with the

purpose of the evaluation and ideally have some experience with
developing surveys.

Stakeholder The stakeholder is responsible for answering the questions and

verifying the resulting information presented by the author for
confirmation.

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