Chapter 6

Hunting for the Right Information, Part 1: The Process

IN THIS CHAPTER

Bullet Asking the right people the right questions

Bullet Previewing elicitation approaches

Bullet Making sure your language helps rather than hinders

Bullet Organizing your information to make a plan

Bullet Considering special circumstances with agile projects

So the time has come to sit down with everyone involved in the project and figure out what each person’s problems are so you can eventually help solve them — well, some of them, anyway. (You can leave the rest to their therapists and mothers-in-law.) Easy, right? Not so fast.

Even though the project’s stakeholders may tell you otherwise, identifying a company’s problem and corresponding requirements isn’t as easy as just asking people what they think is wrong and how to correct it and then simply implementing their suggestions. After all, doctors don’t remove your gallbladder just because you tell them you think the gallbladder is causing your stomachache, so why should you ...

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