Requirements Capture

Gathering and documenting the requirements for the software.

Also Known As

Needs Analysis
Requirement Elicitation
Requirement Gathering
User Stories (in Extreme Programming)
User Stories (in Scrum)

Addresses / Mitigates

Feature Fit Risk: Ensures that features align with client needs and expectations.
Coordination Risk: Can Provide a clear understanding of requirements to all stakeholders.
Conceptual Integrity Risk: Helps in explaining exactly what should be built.

Attendant Risks

Feature Drift Risk: Requirements will evolve and this can lead to feature drift.
Dependency Risk: Thorough requirements capture can be time-consuming.

Used By

Extreme Programming: XP captures requirements through user stories and continuous dialogue with the customer.
Scrum: Capturing requirements is done through user stories and the product backlog in Scrum.
Waterfall Development: The requirements gathering and analysis phase in Waterfall involves collecting and documenting all possible requirements of the system to be developed.

Description

"Requirements capture is the process of collecting information about the requirements of a system or project, typically through discussions and interactions with stakeholders." - Requirements capture, Wikipedia

Requirements Capture involves gathering and documenting the requirements for the software. This process ensures that the development team has a clear and comprehensive understanding of what needs to be built, helping to align the final product with client expectations and reducing the risk of costly changes later in the project.