requirements-gathering

name	requirements-gathering
description	Discovery questions, checklists, and techniques for gathering requirements. Use during discovery to ensure thorough understanding before creating issues.

Requirements Gathering Skill

This skill provides guidance for thorough requirements gathering during discovery.

Core Principle

The more we nail down upfront, the better the results. Don't assume - ASK.

Your Job During Discovery

• Be thorough and inquisitive
• Ask clarifying questions before creating any issues
• Uncover hidden assumptions
• Define the desired end state clearly
• Identify edge cases early
• Document what's in scope AND out of scope

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Questions to Ask for Every Feature

Goals & Success

• What problem are we solving?
• What does success look like? How will we measure it?
• What's the priority relative to other work?

Users & Personas

• Who are the users of this feature?
• Are there different user types with different needs?
• What permissions/roles are involved?

Core Functionality

• What is the primary goal?
• Walk me through the ideal user flow step by step
• What happens at each step?

Data & State

• What data needs to be captured/stored?
• What are the required fields vs optional?
• Are there validation rules? (formats, lengths, ranges)
• What's the initial/default state?

Edge Cases & Errors

• What happens if [X] fails?
• What if the user enters invalid data?
• What about empty states? (no data yet)
• What about concurrent access?
• Rate limiting needed?

UI/UX (if applicable)

• Is there a specific design or layout in mind?
• Mobile responsive?
• Accessibility requirements?
• Loading states? Progress indicators?
• Success/error feedback to user?

Integration

• Does this connect to external services?
• Are there existing patterns to follow?
• API format preferences?

Security & Privacy

• Is this data sensitive?
• Authentication required?
• Who can see/edit this data?

Architecture & Technical

• What's the existing tech stack?
• Are there performance requirements? (latency, throughput, scale)
• What's the deployment environment?
• Are there budget constraints?
• What external services or APIs are involved?

Scope Boundaries

• What is explicitly NOT included?
• Are there future phases we should plan for but not build now?
• What's the MVP vs nice-to-have?
• What can we cut if we run short?

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Red Flags to Probe

When the user says something vague, dig deeper:

User Says	Ask About
"Simple login"	What's simple? OAuth? Email/password? Magic links?
"Just like [X site]"	Which specific features? They have many
"Standard CRUD"	What fields? Validation? Permissions?
"Users can edit"	Edit what exactly? All fields? Their own only?
"Normal validation"	What's normal? Email format? Required fields?
"Handle errors"	Which errors? How? Messages? Retry?
"Make it secure"	What threats? Auth? Encryption? Rate limiting?
"Real-time updates"	WebSockets? SSE? Polling? How fresh?
"Good performance"	What's good? <100ms? <1s? Specific benchmarks?

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Discovery Readiness Checklist

Don't move to issue creation until:

• You understand the complete user flow
• You've identified all user types involved
• You know what data is captured and validated
• Edge cases and error handling are defined
• Security/permission requirements are clear
• You know what's explicitly OUT of scope
• The user has confirmed your understanding
• Architecture approach is validated
• UI/UX requirements are captured (if applicable)

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Example: Requirements Interview

User says: "Add user authentication"

Good discovery response:

Before we design this, let me make sure I understand the full scope:

**Users:**
1. Is this for end-users, admins, or both?
2. Will there be different roles/permissions?

**Registration:**
3. What fields are required? (email, password, name, etc.)
4. Email verification required?
5. Password requirements? (length, complexity)
6. Terms of service acceptance?

**Login:**
7. Remember me / stay logged in option?
8. Session timeout duration?
9. Multiple device login allowed?

**Password:**
10. Password reset flow - email link or security questions?
11. Password change when logged in?
12. Account lockout after failed attempts?

**Security:**
13. Two-factor authentication needed?
14. OAuth/social login? (Google, GitHub, etc.)
15. Rate limiting on login attempts?

**Edge cases:**
16. What happens to existing data/users (if any)?
17. Account deletion/deactivation?

**Out of scope (confirm):**
18. User profile editing - separate feature?
19. Admin user management - separate feature?

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Capturing Discovery Output

As you gather requirements, document findings in structured format:

## Goals
- [Primary goal]
- [Success metrics]

## Users
- [User type 1]: [needs]
- [User type 2]: [needs]

## Requirements
### Must Have (MVP)
- [Requirement 1]
- [Requirement 2]

### Nice to Have
- [Requirement 3]

## Architecture Considerations
- [Technical approach]
- [Constraints]

## UI/UX Requirements
- [Design notes]

## Out of Scope
- [Explicitly excluded item 1]
- [Explicitly excluded item 2]

## Open Questions
- [Any remaining unknowns]

This structured output becomes the discovery.md document.