[Sigia-l] Interesting & Effective Requirements Gathering Techniques?

[Andrew Boyd]

On Thu, Feb 28, 2008 at 1:35 AM, Jacqueline Stetson <j.stetson at rcn.com> wrote:
> Hi Susan,
>
>  One technique that I like to use is creating a wireframe workflow during a stakeholder focus group. This is particularly helpful for stakeholders who have never been through a development process before and don't know the difference between a business objective, functional requirement, a wireframe, and a visual design. Since they don't know how to define what they want, it's often easier to work with what they don't want. I have found that this is often the quickest way to define requirements. It takes a bit of time and you need to strongly moderate the sessions, but you walk out with a set of wireframes, functional requirements, stakeholder input, ... You can refine the wireframes and interaction models afterward and present the wireframes back to the users at the next session.
>
>  Hope this helps! Let me know if you're going to give it a go and I can tell you all the mistakes I made...
>
>  Jacqueline Stetson

As an extension, there is always the "break into small groups and show
me what you'd like on the front page of the new site" thing after a
good cathartic rantstorming. They don't design a new front page, but
use a sort of visual hierarchy to describe their pain - a big help
button generally doesn't mean that they actually want a big help
button on the homepage, it usually means that there is a perception of
inadequate information support for the existing site/application. I've
been part of teams that have done this with good results (requirement
enunciation and clarification, shared feeling of participation in the
process) on internal intranet and client application projects.

This is sometimes followed with good effect by a "here's one we
prepared earlier" wireframe/prototype walkthrough.

Cheers, Andrew

---
Andrew Boyd
http://onblogging.com.au