Revisiting Requirements Elicitation Techniques

The importance of Requirements Engineering (RE) has been well recognized by the research community in the last decade. There is no doubt to say that requirements phase is the foundation of the entire Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) on which the entire software is built. With the proper management of various activities falling under requirements phase, a project can deliver the right solution within the time and budget. Requirement elicitation, requirement specification, and requirement validation are the important stages to assure the quality of requirement documentations. Out of these, elicitation is the first major activity, which requires proper attention by Requirement Engineers and other related stakeholders. Literature reveals various elicitation techniques, which can be used for the purpose depending upon the nature of project/s. In this paper, an attempt is made to cover all the major elicitation techniques along with their significant aspects at one place. Such a review would enable the concerned stakeholders to understand and select the most appropriate technique to be used for their project/s.