People don’t simply “gather” requirements
Requirements aren’t lying around waiting for the business analyst to collect them. Requirements elicitation is a more accurate term.
People often speak of gathering requirements on a software project, but this conveys an inaccurate impression. The word gathering suggests that the requirements are lying around out there somewhere, just waiting for the business analyst (BA) or product owner to collect them. When I hear someone say “gathering requirements,” I conjure a mental image of picking flowers or hunting for Easter eggs. It’s not that simple.
Gathering versus elicitation
Requirements rarely exist fully formed in users’ minds, ready to be passed to a BA or development team on demand. Assembling requirements does involve some collection, but it also involves discovery and invention. The term requirements elicitation more accurately conveys how software people collaborate with stakeholders to explore a future solution’s capabilities.
A dictionary definition of elicitation means calling forth, drawing out, or provoking. (BAs aren’t trying to provoke their stakeholders, though that happens inadvertently sometimes.) A big part of the BA’s function during elicitation is to ask questions to…
