Gathering requirements is a fundamental part of any software development project. These are possessions approximating "The user wants to make X. How is this achieved?" In statistic, the collection of desires is the process of creating a list of desires (functional, systemic, technical, etc.) of all the interested parties (customers, users, suppliers, IT personnel) that will be used as the basis for the formal definition of the project.

Because requirements define a project, poorly written requirements can cause problems during development and, more seriously, cause projects to fail if goals were misunderstood. As the saying goes: "Do not prepare, but you prepare for disaster".

The importance of collecting requirements

Business clients typically expect best software development agency to provide a solution based on unspoken, incomplete, or unknown requirements, while software development teams typically assume that business customers will report exactly what they want, as briefly as possible. Both expectations are clearly unrealistic. Therefore, the requirements must be formally recorded in one document, which can be used as reference material in software development.

In the event that potential suppliers are still on the short list, an important starting point is to at least collect all the key requirements in order to take into account ballistic proposals.

Good collection, processing and management of requirements is important as they set clear goals for everyone. It can be a lot of hard work, but it should not be a difficult task if you can remember some key points.

User comes first

First, remember that this is all about the user. Find out how real users perform their tasks and how exactly they do it - and how they want to do it. What do they need to do? How effective can we do this? And what kind of flexibility might be required?

The requirements should describe in detail how the user will perform what he wants using the developed software. Awareness of any technological preferences and existing system integration is also fundamental, since it can have a huge impact on the development path and subsequently affect the productivity and efficiency of user tasks.

Useful requirements collection tools

There are many tools you can use to collect requirements. For example, when you are in a requirements gathering session, try creating a mind plan to help organize your conversation by comparing comments, requirements, and ideas with the main branches of thought in the conversation.

Design a use case diagram that includes all imaginary steps in the new process. This may mean using the “as is” and “to be” models, where you outline the current necessary steps (as is), and then add a “lane” (to be), showing an optimized solution.

It is worth spending time documenting “as is” for basic or complex processes so that the whole team can develop a common understanding of the business process.

The To-Be model shows how the business process is being adjusted with the introduction of a new system (it is sometimes useful to put As-Is on To-Be to understand the changes).

Put yourself in the role of a user and think about how they move from one step to another to achieve their goals with the help of software and what dependencies can be involved (for example, querying a database to get a unique identifier). Please note that it is also important to know what users should not do with the software, or features that should not be visible to them!

Another useful tool is to collect custom stories about how they work. If the user story is too complex, it can be broken down into smaller stories and supported with diagrams.

Often, to determine the scale of a project, a context diagram may be required to determine the boundaries of the system, its environment, and all interacting objects.

Being complete also means being careful: to know the system and how it works in the right context. How will it integrate with other systems? How will the databases communicate? What APIs will be needed and how are they already in use? By building a visual model of a software solution, you will get a better idea of ​​the main interactions and participants in your system.

Another type of diagram that can be used is a top-down illustration, called a functional decomposition diagram, which is useful for breaking the system down into large pieces.

Remember to make assumptions or take anything for granted. Be as detailed as possible and document each step necessary to complete the task. Repeat key goals in your requirements collection process so everyone is happy. One way to do this is to use the goals of SMART: specific, measurable, consistent, realistic and time-based.

Ask stakeholders what they need and how your team can make their life easier. Have they encountered pitfalls in other projects and can they be included in the current specification as potential hazards? It is part of diplomacy and part of functional requirements.

Finally, if you encounter problems, it is better to encounter them at an early stage, at the stage of collecting requirements, and not in the future, when this may require additional time and money to resolve them

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