Practical tips for success

Here are some tips that will help you with elicitation activities. I make a checklist of these tasks so that I remember to implement them as much as possible.

• Be an active listener – be able to understand the meaning behind the work and the user’s intentions.
• Understand the user needs in the context and be technology agnostic.
• Avoid stakeholders telling you what to do (solution) rather than what they need.
• Adopt incremental approaches where possible to foster innovative solutions and better solutions.
• Take notes… lots of them. Tag the source where you got the information. At a later date, if you need clarification, it helps you identify the source easily.
• Use visuals as much as possible to bring everyone to a common understanding.
• Communicate – send the minutes to all stakeholders, including the visuals and solicit feedback.
• Thank your stakeholders and team members for their participation. A...