Why Requirement Gathering Is Critical in Software Development

In modern software development—especially when using Agile methodologies, DevOps practices, or low-code platforms like Microsoft Dynamics 365—requirements form the foundation of a successful project.

In engineering, a requirement is a clearly documented need describing what a product or service should do or how it should behave.

In software engineering, requirements are generally classified into two types:

Functional Requirements: These describe the specific behavior or functions a system must perform. For example, "The system must allow users to submit a support ticket."

Non-Functional Requirements: These define the quality attributes of a system—how well it performs its functions. Examples include performance, scalability, usability, availability, reliability, supportability, testability, maintainability, and ease of use.

Together, these requirements ensure the solution not only works as expected but also delivers a high-quality user experience.

A requirement is a usable representation of a need : IIBA, BABOK Guide V3

Why Are Requirements Valuable?

Requirements—and the process of gathering them—aren’t just important; they are critical to building successful, scalable, and sustainable software in modern development environments.

They serve as a clear blueprint for what needs to be built, eliminating ambiguity and ensuring that all stakeholders—developers, testers, business users, and clients—have a shared understanding of the project goals.

When requirements are well-defined, teams can accurately estimate timelines, costs, and resource needs. This leads to more realistic planning , better budgeting, and a smoother development process overall.

Requirement Lifecycle in Software Development

The Requirement Lifecycle refers to the end to end process of managing requirements throughout a project — from initial identification to retirement. It ensures that business needs are captured, analyzed, implemented, verified , and eventually retired when no longer relevant.

Stages of the Requirement Lifecycle

Identified

What it is: Initial gathering of ideas, pain points, and needs from stakeholders.
Example: A sales team requests a CRM feature to auto generate leads from emails.

Defined

What it is: Clarifying and documenting what the requirement is, including objectives, scope, and stakeholders.
Example: "The system should create a new lead in Dynamics 365 when an email with a specific subject is received."

Verified

What it is: Ensuring the requirement is feasible, aligns with business goals, and is technically possible.
Example: The dev team checks if Dynamics 365 APIs support email parsing and auto lead creation.

Validated

What it is: Confirming that the requirement solves the intended business problem and is agreed upon by all key stakeholders.
Example: The sales manager confirms that the lead auto generation will save manual entry time.

Approved

What it is: Formal acceptance by decision makers to proceed with development.
Example: The product owner approves the feature to be added to the next sprint.

Implemented

What it is: The development, testing, and deployment of the requirement into the live system.
Example: Developers build the functionality; QA tests it; and it’s deployed into Dynamics 365.

Retired

What it is: The requirement is removed or no longer in use, often replaced by an updated feature or process.
Example: The auto lead feature is replaced by a new AI based lead scoring system, and the old rule is retired.

Essential Components of Requirement Gathering

In software development, requirement gathering is a foundational phase that determines the success of the entire project. It involves collecting, analyzing, documenting, and validating the needs and expectations of stakeholders. Below are the essential components that make requirement gathering effective and complete:

Stakeholder Identification

Identify everyone who has an interest in the project: clients, users, project managers, developers, testers, and business analysts.

Business Objectives

Understand and document the business goals the software should support or improve.

Functional Requirements

These define what the system should do — actions, behaviors, or functions (e.g., "generate invoices", "track orders").

Non-Functional Requirements

These describe how the system performs — like speed, scalability, security, usability, reliability, and maintainability.

Use Cases / User Stories

Descriptions of how users will interact with the system, including inputs, actions, and expected outputs.

Assumptions & Constraints

Assumptions: Things considered true without proof (e.g., users will have internet access).

Constraints: Limitations such as budgets, deadlines, or technology stack.

Data Requirements

Define the type of data the system will handle, data sources, storage, and flow between components.

Interface Requirements

Specify integrations with other systems, APIs, or third-party platforms (e.g., integrating Dynamics CRM with Outlook).

Regulatory & Compliance Needs

Requirements based on legal or industry regulations (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA).

Change Management Strategy

Define how changes in requirements will be handled — version control, stakeholder re-approval, etc.

Prioritization

Not all requirements are equal. Use prioritization techniques like MoSCoW (Must-have, Should-have, Could-have, Won’t-have).

Validation & Approval Process

A formal step where all key stakeholders review and approve the documented requirements before development starts.

Identify Requirement Approaches in software development refer to the different methods or strategies used to discover, collect, and document the needs and expectations of stakeholders for a system or solution. These approaches help ensure that all critical business needs are captured early in the project lifecycle. Each approach has its strengths and is often chosen based on the project's size, complexity, stakeholders, and development methodology (e.g., Agile, Waterfall, DevOps, etc.).

Waterfall Approach

A traditional, linear method where each phase must be completed before the next begins.