Before we dive into capturing UX requirements, let`s first unpack what they are. If you`ve ever looked for a job, you`ve probably read hundreds (if not thousands) of job descriptions. You usually get a story about the potential business, but most job descriptions go straight to the point: the requirements. One of the biggest challenges in capturing requirements is that it not only requires contributions from many backgrounds, but also represents your knowledge of the needs of the users of the product. Requirements are a representation of what you know about the user and what stakeholders expect from the product, meaning that a significant amount of research is required before the requirements can even be added to your list. To understand the company`s strategy and requirements, our panel of experts recommends talking to many stakeholders, individually and in groups. Our experts also suggest explicit questions you should ask stakeholders and specific ideas to understand, for example, the competitive landscape. Depending on your business context, the key people you work with to identify and define product or service requirements may be product managers or business analysts. A great user experience allows users to achieve their goal when they use your artifact, whether it`s a website, a software system, or anything else you create. Take a step back now. Trying to figure out how to make it easier for users to achieve goals would be pointless if you don`t put it in the context of what you know about your users. The better you understand your users, their work, and the context of their work, the more you can help them achieve their goals – and the more usable your system will be! So you inevitably ask the question: „How do I know the needs of my users?” This article is about collecting requests. And that answers that question.
All this initial information is very valuable, but do not think that it is set in stone. Over time, the details may change as you develop the project and discover new aspects of the solution. In other cases, a little research can change the way you look at the problem the solution needs to solve, which will likely change the solution itself. Therefore, there is a certain balance between your stability to have the same requirements for the entire project and your flexibility to adapt to changes as needed. First of all, your requirements will be fluid as you discover the specifics of the project. After that, changes are less likely as you validate your decisions and progress in prototyping the solution. Remember, having a professional prototyping tool for this is an absolute necessity! „Business analysts often document business requirements in a Business Requirements Document (BRD),” Jordan says. „Typically, the business analyst owns the RFA, adds requirements and refines them as the project progresses. However, in some situations, there will be no business analyst, so the responsibility for capturing requirements may rest on your shoulders. In such cases, I like to approach capturing business needs as well as capturing user needs, i.e. through one-on-one conversations.
For more practical tips on improving UX design, see Best Practices in the UX Design Process. The free 100-page guide provides guidance on the entire UX process, from requirements capture to design testing. „After working in non-GA organizations, I trained as a business analyst myself and used these skills to complement my UX work. This is something I can fully recommend. It`s really an extremely complementary skill set. This is perhaps the simplest form of requirements management. Many design teams first use questionnaires to get some context before sitting down with the client to discuss basic things like project goals and requirements. For example, when discussing modes or states, it is important to define what each state means, what impact it has on the product and the user, what behaviors change in each state or mode, what combination of means and conditions the user may encounter, etc.
This can be a great way to get your team members to discuss and discuss the basic requirements, what they mean, and the consequences each requirement could have. In addition to diving a little deeper into the meaning and consistency of each requirement, it is very helpful to have everyone in the same room and cover the different aspects of the product. These are the people who tell us about business competitors and the market and highlight the business model for which the product is intended. Plus, it`s also the guys who make sure the product is profitable, and make sure that all those efforts are monetized in the end. Needless to say, they are crucial to making a project that can stay afloat. Requirements collection is a bit like a checklist of all the things your solution needs to do or be. It is a key document where everyone can see what the project is, what the problem is and how they hope to solve it. It involves a lot of research, a lot of interviews and reading – in addition to writing a lot. „It is important to note that professionals often have as much difficulty formulating their needs as users. In fact, stakeholders often have latent requirements. You may not even know that these requirements exist.
It is up to a professional analyst or user researcher to tactfully discover hidden or unmet needs. We always recommend doing everything in your power to research users. This is the time to turn off big guns like mental models, user journeys, user personas and other tools that can shed light on what the user needs and wants.