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requirements gathering

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Lisa Wairoto Project Analyst II| Virginia Premier Chesterfield, Va, United States
Does anyone have any thoughts on how to gather requirements more efficiently? Please share examples of a template?
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Vincent Guerard Coach - Trainer - Speaker - Advisor| Freelance Mont-Royal, Quebec, Canada
Jul 29, 2019 11:58 AM
Replying to Gabrielle Story
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Honestly, I got to the lowest man on the totem pole. When you talk to the Do-ers, you learn how things actually work and improvements than can be made. You don't want to base your requirements on current policy or process, you want to base it off whats actually happening. I always prefer to use the PRINCE2 technique of getting Senior Users on the team, people who represent the users/customers that can speak to the painpoints of the current system.
That is also the way I believe the IT system can be improved.
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Bob Thomas Retired Brentwood, Tn, United States
I hate the term "gathering". Sounds like you're at the store. "Oh that requirement is just what I need! I'll put it in my basket." Gathering implies there isn't any serious work involved. The more appropriate term is "elicitation".

There are a number of techniques in the BABoK that will help you. Pay a visit to the IIBA website.
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Anton Oosthuizen Senior Business Analyst / Project Manager| Self Employed Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
Gathering, eliciting, needs, requirements..... No worry we all know what you are trying to do.

I agree with Kiron, there is no single technique or set of techniques that will work in every situation. Start with stakeholder analysis i.e. know your stakeholders and what their power and influence is. Are they co-located or geographically dispersed? You will then select specific tools and techniques to use that best suite the situation. Some tools/techniques work better for larger groups other work better for virtual teams etc.

Typically you will start on a higher level e.g. a workshop and then based on the results you might use interviews to get more detail from specific stakeholders. Things to keep in mind: a) Use whatever works and yields results. If you find something ineffective then CHANGE it, b) keep the feedback loop tight. Stakeholder wants to know why they had to sit with you for hours and you want to know if you understood correctly and c) you probably will not answer all your questions in a single session and you will arrange follow up sessions using tools/techniques that are appropriate.

BTW if you will be using workshops then make sure your facilitation skills are up to par because these types of sessions need a firm hand or otherwise things can run away and you walk out with more questions than answers and leave behind frustrated stakeholders who will be reluctant to participate going forward.
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Ganesh Kumar Program Manager Bangalore., Karnataka, India
Hi Lisa,

Requirements must answer few Questions.
What are we trying to achieve, who will use this feature and when, what are the benefits. Will this change have any legal constraints. How this task is currently done to achieve the goals. Is it automatic or manual. Any additional system will be required to complete this action. If you have answer to these questions then you can analyse further, these are must.
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Lisa Wairoto Project Analyst II| Virginia Premier Chesterfield, Va, United States
I am looking for ways to ensure all customer requirements are met from an external customer that I may not know much about their scope of work. How do you know what to ask if you aren't familiar with their field? I don't want to miss anything that may seem to be common knowledge for some that are subject matter experts.
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1 reply by Sergio Luis Conte
Jul 30, 2019 5:44 AM
Sergio Luis Conte
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As I mentioned you will find tools inside the PMI´s business analsysis practice standard. But in advance I can say the way to do that is thanks to a requiremeents trazability matrix.
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Sergio Luis Conte Helping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based Organizations Buenos Aires, Argentina
Jul 30, 2019 4:39 AM
Replying to Lisa Wairoto
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I am looking for ways to ensure all customer requirements are met from an external customer that I may not know much about their scope of work. How do you know what to ask if you aren't familiar with their field? I don't want to miss anything that may seem to be common knowledge for some that are subject matter experts.
As I mentioned you will find tools inside the PMI´s business analsysis practice standard. But in advance I can say the way to do that is thanks to a requiremeents trazability matrix.
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