Stop 02 · Requirements ElicitationTopics · 8/10

Prototyping for Elicitation

In short

Ask people what they want and you get blank looks. Show them a rough sketch and they instantly say 'No, the total should be at the top'. Prototypes turn vague wishes into clear feedback.

Using rough mockups or wireframes to make an abstract requirement concrete — stakeholders often can't articulate what they want until they see something to react to.

The purple blob offers a small tray of sample sweets for tasting.

Think of it like this

The sweet shop tasting plate

You can't describe the 'perfect kaju katli', but taste one sample and you know: a bit less sweet, a bit thinner. A prototype is that sample piece. People react to something real much better than they describe something imaginary.

Watch it happen

Two rounds with a paper prototype

Shop owner

Here's a rough sketch

1/6The BA shows a hand-drawn invoice screen. It took 15 minutes, on purpose.

The big ideas

What you need to know

Rough is a feature

A paper sketch invites honest criticism. A polished design makes people polite and afraid to suggest changes.

Low to high fidelity

Start with paper or a whiteboard, move to a clickable wireframe in a tool like Figma only when the basics are agreed.

It's for learning

The goal is to uncover requirements, not to design the final screen. The real design comes later.

Manage expectations

Say clearly 'this is a sketch, not the real app'. Stakeholders may think a slick prototype means it's nearly built.

Save yourself the pain

Common mistakes

Oops

Spending three days on a pixel-perfect mockup before showing anyone.

Do this instead

Show a 15-minute sketch first. If the idea is wrong, you've lost minutes, not days.

Oops

Asking 'Do you like it?'

Do this instead

Ask them to do a task with it, like 'Show me how you'd create an invoice for a repeat customer'.

Your mission

Paper-prototype a form

~30 min

Quick check

Why do BAs often prefer rough sketches over polished designs early on?

Go deeper

1Sketch a low-fidelity mockup for a hypothetical feature request.
2Learn why 'show, don't just tell' often surfaces requirements a pure interview would miss.
3Understand this connects directly to Phase 8's basic wireframing skills.