✴️Requirement Gathering vs Requirement Elicitation.

 

I asked this question in few of the business analyst interviews. What I saw that 4-5 years of BA experience working professionals are not clear about the difference between these two. I will try to explain the difference using a short example. Just for your note, if you use examples in your answers, it shows that you have clear understanding on the topic. It also helps interviewer to evaluate you easily.

Let's assume one guest came to your house in the evening. You asked your guest, what he would like to have - Tea or Coffee? Your guest told you that he would like to have tea. So, the requirement is now to prepare tea for your guest. Is it sufficient to make a good tea for your guest? At this point of time, you are not sure about the taste of your guest. This is called requirement gathering. Here you know what your customer wants, but you are not 100% sure about the taste of your customer. So, you need to deeply engage with your customer to understand the need in detail.

Now you are asking your guest some specific questions about the tea which you are going to prepare for him.

Questions such as:

➺ Would you like to have tea with milk or without milk?

➺ Would you like to have tea with sugar or without sugar?

➺ What is the amount of the tea? Full cup or half cup?

➺ Would you like to have biscuits or snacks along with the tea?

When you have answers to these questions, you will know what exactly your guest like. You will be more confident to prepare the tea as you know now that you have enough information to satisfy guest's requirement. This is called requirement elicitation. Here you are eliciting the exact details to satisfy customer needs. 

👉 In short, requirement gathering is process of collecting the information and keep in one place. Sometimes the gathered information is not very explicit or specific. They are very high level and indepth details are missing. On the other hand, Requirement elicitation is the process to note down the details more specifically. It requires heavy engagement with the stakeholders. Requirement elicitation is always better than requirement gathering. You can also think in this way that requirements are elicited from the gathered requirement.