Don’t Assume, Always Ask

Understanding fully what a project will deliver is critical to its success. 
Requirements gathering sounds like common sense, but surprisingly, it’s an area that is given far too little attention.

A typical example of what happens when client requirements are not well understood.

10 Commandments of Requirements Gathering

Follow these rules for successful requirements gathering and to give make your project successful :

• Don’t assume you know what the customer wants – always ask.
• Involvement of the stakeholders from the beginning.
• Define, document and get sign-off on the scope of the project.
• Make sure requirements are SMART – specific, measurable, agreed upon, realistic and time-based.
• Always gain clarity if there is any doubt.
• Create a clear, concise and thorough requirements document and share it with the customer.
• Confirm your understanding of the requirements alongside the customer (play them back).
• Avoid talking technology or solutions until the requirements are fully understood.
• Get the requirements agreed with the stakeholders before the project starts.
• Create a prototype, if necessary, to confirm or refine the customer’s requirements.

Q : How would you approach requirement gathering, when the customer does not have any documented/clear requirements?
A: Before approaching any customer, it should be essential to have a list of questions ready which contains questions about their current business process, existing systems, stakeholder’s information, pain-points, and infrastructure readiness.
There are two ways to reach out to the customer –
1) Set-up a call with relevant stakeholders/POC to get answers to these questions.
2) If a customer is unable to get on a call, then share the questions with them over email / or in a google form format.

After the requirements are gathered, prepare a Business Requirements Document (BRD) and share it with the customer for sign-off. 

Q : What would you do to gain detailed knowledge of the customer’s business model and processes?
A: A discovery workshop involving stakeholders/system users from the customers team is the best way to gather this information.
Also access to existing systems can be asked for to do any internal study within the team.
After the discovery, it is necessary to document the processes in form of wireframes, workflows, user stories and to get a sign-off from the customer.

We at Tacto have always been cognizant of the fact that 100% clear requirement gathering amounts to 50% of the project success. With our team of experienced pre-sales managers, business analysts and project manages we conduct discovery workshops and detailed discussions with the stakeholders to understand their pain points and to consult in the best possible way in order to create a product that is at par with client’s expectations.

Reach out to us at consult@tacto.in to know more!