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Requirements Capture

What are you changing the state of? and what value do you intend to create?

  • Who are you creating it for?
  • How will they recognise that value?
  • How will you deliver that value?
  • How will you know the ship is off course?

Understand what your stakeholders need, what your users expect, and what technical constraints you need to work within.

Standard breakdown:

  1. Understand the Project Goals
  2. Identify Stakeholders
  3. Define User Needs
  4. Specify Functional Requirements
  5. Specify Non-Functional Requirements
  6. Identify Technical Constraints
  7. Document Everything
  8. Review and Validate

Understand the Project Goals​

  • Identify the main objectives of the project. What is it trying to achieve?
  • Understand the value proposition. How is the project unique or better than existing solutions?
  • Identify the key performance indicators (KPIs). How will success be measured?

Identify Stakeholders​

  • List all individuals, teams, or organizations who have a vested interest in the project.
  • Understand their expectations and their role in the project.

Define User Needs​

  • Develop user personas representing the target audience.
  • Define their needs, preferences, and pain points. What problems are they facing that this project will solve?
  • Consider conducting user interviews or surveys to collect this data.

Specify Functional Requirements​

  • List the features and capabilities that the website and app will have.
  • Detail how the system should behave in response to certain inputs or situations.

Specify Non-Functional Requirements​

  • Define the system properties such as performance, security, usability, scalability, etc.
  • These are often the 'quality' or 'additional' aspects of a system.

Identify Technical Constraints​

  • Understand the technical limitations, like budget, timeline, or technology stack.
  • Identify any regulatory or compliance requirements.

Document Everything​

  • Keep a thorough record of all the requirements gathered.
  • Use a consistent format that's easy for others to understand.

Review and Validate​

  • Review the requirements with stakeholders to make sure they are accurate and complete.
  • Validate that they are achievable within the project's constraints.