Requirements Elicitation

Requirements elicitation is the process of obtaining requirements from the end users, customers, stakeholders for a product or process development or improvement.

I recently read an article prefering the process be called requirements elicititation vs requirements gathering and how true!

I feel "gathering" is not really the right word that describes a Business Analyst's job. It is not that requirements are readily available around, that a BA has to just gather and put them together. A BA must do the necessary home work, ask the right questions, ask probing questions, understand the project objective, draw out/bring out(elicit) the information from the stakeholders.

"Elicit" is hence a better word and defines a more active role for an Analyst.

There are many ways in which a BA can elicit requirements from the clients like one-one Interviews, Focus group discussions, brainstorming, surveys, from observation etc. All these methods have four basic parts: Preparation, Conducting, Follow-up and documentation. A BA must be proficient in all the methods.

I shall write more about the methods of requirements eiicitation in next posts. Untill then happy Requirements Elicitation!