Requirements gathering technique

There have been lot of templates and processes defined as requirements gathering techniques. From the beginning of the project, we will need lot of clarifications on the customer's business requirements. It is always good to log them in a spread sheet. This way you can easily track how many of the items are closed, open and pending and also classify them based on priority, dates, etc. I have predominantly used them right from the project initiation phase and found lot of benefits using the same. This issue log serves as a reference document on the important requirements clarification and serves as a proof for your work. This also works very well in an onsite offshore model. I have given below a snapshot of fields that can be good candidates in the issue log. You can add/modify/delete fields based on your project requirements.

• Date
• Closed Date/ Resolved Date
  
• Priority
• Assigned
• Type (can have values like requirements, design, etc)
  
• Status
• Description