UX for Beginners

Chapter 9. Gathering Requirements

In UX, the more you understand what you can’t do and what you must do, the better your final designs will be.

In many types of design, part of the process is to find inspiration and generate lots of ideas. Mood boards. Photography. Hallucinogens. Part of artistic creativity is to feed your mind with freedom and possibilities.

But that’s not how problem-solving works.

As a UX designer, your most ingenious creative ideas will come from the limitations and restrictions you define by studying the problem.

When those limitations come from your own colleagues and previous work, we call them “requirements.”

Requirements Protect You from Mistakes

In a real UX job, your design will affect other parts of the company: the sales team, the programmers, the executives.

Always have a discussion with each of the “stakeholders” (important people), from each department that is affected by the design.

Collect problems that could be solved, things that can’t be changed, or technical things that must be included.

The sales team has products that it needs to sell. The programmers might have code that is hard to change. Executives have long-term goals that must be respected. The janitors... well, they probably won’t be affected by your designs, but you could help them out by not leaving your Red Bull cans all over the place. Geez.

By talking with stakeholders, you will avoid making mistakes that could cost time and money. Plus, your desk won’t attract so many flies in the summer. ...