What is Requirements Elicitation?

Elicitation is the process of drawing out and discovering requirements from stakeholders and other sources. It's not simply asking "what do you want?" — it requires skill, preparation, and the right techniques for each situation.

Core Elicitation Techniques

Technique	Best For	Tips
Interviews	Key stakeholders, detailed exploration	Prepare open-ended questions; listen more than talk
Workshops / JAD Sessions	Cross-functional groups, building consensus	Facilitated sessions with all stakeholders present
Observation (Job Shadowing)	Understanding current processes	Watch actual work; document what vs. what they say they do
Surveys/Questionnaires	Large user groups, quantitative data	Use for validation, not initial discovery
Document Analysis	Existing system requirements, policies	Review contracts, reports, existing system documentation
Prototyping	Unclear requirements, UI design	Low-fidelity wireframes expose unstated requirements quickly
Focus Groups	Customer needs, product feedback	7-10 participants; use a moderator guide
Brainstorming	Generating ideas, identifying problems	Separate idea generation from evaluation

Interview Techniques

Types of interview questions:

Open-ended: "Walk me through your typical day..." — generates rich detail
Closed-ended: "Do you use system X daily?" — confirms specific facts
Probing: "Can you tell me more about that?" — digs deeper
Context-free: "What makes a project successful for you?" — reveals values

The 5 Whys Technique

Root cause analysis: ask "Why?" five times to drill down from a symptom to the root cause.

📌 Example: Problem: Reports are always late. Why? → Data arrives late. Why? → Manual data entry takes too long. Why? → No automated integration. Why? → System X was built without an API. Why? → No requirement was captured at build time. Root cause: missing integration requirement at project start.

Elicitation Planning

Identify the right stakeholders for each technique
Prepare a question guide or agenda in advance
Schedule enough time (don't rush)
Document outputs immediately after the session
Confirm with stakeholders that notes are accurate