Elicit Requirements: Structured Pre-Feature Clarification
Run this before writing any new feature to avoid scope creep, missed edge cases, and mid-implementation discoveries that force rewrites.
Elicitation Workflow
Work through these sections with the user. Ask grouped questions; do not ask one at a time.
1. Problem Statement
Ask:
- What problem are we solving, and for whom?
- What triggers this feature? (user action, external system push, scheduled job, webhook)
- What is the expected outcome when it works correctly?
- What is the expected behaviour when it fails?
2. User Roles and Stakeholders
Ask:
- Which user roles interact with this directly? (admin, developer, end user, external system)
- Which roles are indirectly affected? (e.g., reports they see change, notifications they receive)
- For integration features: which external system is involved? (identify from project context or ask)
3. Technical Constraints
For integration or API features, always clarify:
| Constraint | Questions |
|---|---|
| System | Which external system? |
| Direction | INBOUND (system pushes to us) or OUTBOUND (we push to system)? |
| Trigger | API call, webhook, scheduled job, file arrival? |
| Data format | JSON? XML? CSV? Other? |
| Auth | JWT? API key? mTLS? None (internal only)? |
| Error handling | Retry? Dead-letter queue? Alert? Silent fail? |
| Idempotency | Must duplicate calls be safe? |
4. Acceptance Criteria
For each piece of functionality, define:
- What HTTP endpoint (method + path) if applicable
- What the success response looks like (status code, key fields)
- What DB rows are created/updated and with which values
- What external calls are made (APIs, storage, queues)
- What happens on error (validation fail, external system down, duplicate)
Acceptance criteria must be verifiable without human judgement. If it says "looks good" or "works correctly" it is not an acceptance criterion.
Good: POST /api/v1/orders returns 202 with { "jobId": "<uuid>" } and creates job row with status='PENDING'
Bad: "The endpoint should handle the data correctly"
5. Out of Scope
Explicitly list what is NOT included in this feature to prevent scope creep:
- Which related endpoints are deferred?
- Which error scenarios are explicitly not handled yet?
- Which UI/dashboard elements are not part of this backend feature?
6. Dependencies and Ordering
- Does this feature depend on another feature being complete first?
- Does another feature depend on this being complete?
- What environment is needed to test? (running dev server, specific DB records, external system mock?)
Output
After elicitation, produce a structured summary:
markdown## Requirements Summary: [Feature Name] ### Problem [1-2 sentences] ### Scope - System: [external system if applicable] - Direction: [inbound/outbound] - Trigger: [how it starts] ### Stories (ordered by dependency) 1. [Story 1 title]: [one-line description] 2. [Story 2 title]: [one-line description] ### Acceptance Criteria (per story) **Story 1:** - ... ### Out of Scope - ... ### Open Questions - ...
Step 7: Confirmation Before Saving
After drafting the Requirements Summary, present it to the user in readable markdown and ask:
"Does this requirements summary look complete and accurate? Should I save it?"
Do NOT save until the user confirms (yes / save / proceed / looks good). If the user wants revisions, loop back to the relevant section, update the draft, and re-present.
Only after confirmation: save the requirements to a structured markdown file the user can reference during implementation.
