Stop 02 · Requirements ElicitationTopics · 1/10

Elicitation Techniques Overview

In short

Elicitation is a fancy word for 'finding out what people actually need'. People rarely just tell you, so a BA carries a few different ways of drawing it out.

A range of methods for uncovering business needs — interviews, workshops, surveys, observation — each fits different situations, and a skilled BA chooses deliberately rather than defaulting to one technique always.

The purple blob in a detective hat studies a register book with a magnifying glass at a hostel gate.

Think of it like this

Like a detective in a hostel case

Someone's cycle went missing from the hostel. The detective questions the warden, reads the visitor register, watches the gate at night and tries the lock herself. No single method solves it. Put together, the story becomes clear.

Watch it happen

Your elicitation toolkit

Interview

Workshop

Survey

Doc review

Observe

Brainstorm

Prototype

Focus group

1/7Eight common techniques. Most projects mix two or three of them.

The big ideas

What you need to know

Elicit, don't just collect

Requirements aren't lying around waiting to be picked up. You draw them out with questions, activities and observation.

Mix techniques

Each method has blind spots. Interviews miss habits, surveys miss the 'why'. Combining them covers the gaps.

Say vs do

What people say they do and what they actually do often differ. Plan at least one technique that shows real behaviour.

Confirm what you heard

Elicitation isn't done until you play back your understanding and the stakeholder says 'yes, that's right'.

Save yourself the pain

Common mistakes

Oops

Using only interviews on every project because they feel comfortable.

Do this instead

Pick the technique by what you need to learn. Add observation or document review to check what interviews tell you.

Oops

Treating elicitation as a one-time phase at the start.

Do this instead

Expect to go back with new questions during analysis, design and even testing.

Your mission

Plan elicitation for your canteen

~20 min

Quick check

Staff say they always follow the approval process, but delays keep happening. Which technique best checks what really happens?

Go deeper

1List 3 elicitation techniques and a scenario where each would be the best fit.
2Learn why combining multiple techniques usually surfaces more complete requirements.
3Preview the rest of this phase for each technique in more depth.