7. Eliciting Requirements

What are the four requirements elicitation techniques?

Interviewing, Questionnaires, Workshops, Storyboarding.

What is a good interviewing principle?

Ask context-free questions; avoid biases and questions influencing the answer.

What should an interviewer do to confirm understanding?

Repeat the answer back to the user for confirmation.

What are the three goals of a question strategy?

Distinguish the real problem; get the requirements; surface constraints.

What three elements are used to develop a question strategy?

Form, Content, Sequence.

What are closed questions?

Fact-based, often Yes/No; establish context and ascertain facts quickly.

What are open questions?

Explain, Expand, Elaborate; gain breadth/depth and give control to client.

What are leading questions?

Questions designed to make a stakeholder think in new ways; can influence responses.

What is the suggested interview sequence?

Situation; Problem; Functionality & Benefits.

What are the main activities after an interview?

Transcribe/elaborate notes; list requirements; prioritize; stakeholder review/buy-in.

What are questionnaires typically used for?

Reaching a broader set of users.

Why are questionnaires not substitutes for interviews?

Inflexible; lack information flow; unclear responses are hard to follow up.

Which elicitation method is called the best technique in the lecture?

Workshops.

Why are workshops useful?

Key players; drive consensus; allow brainstorming; prioritize requirements.

What are limitations of workshops?

Scheduling, inviting the right people, and time/travel expense.

What is storyboarding used for?

Getting early user reactions and discovering missing or complex requirements.

What is the key storyboarding guideline?

Do not overinvest; crude sketches can be better than polished designs.