Requirements Gathering: Everything You Need To Know

There’s no shortcut around this: if you skip requirements gathering, your project suffers. Maybe not right away — but the cracks will show, whether it be misaligned expectations, scope creep, missed deadlines, or a wasted budget. We see it all the time when projects get rushed into design or development without a clear foundation.

Requirements gathering is where you define what needs to be built, why, and how — not in vague terms, but in detailed, structured documentation that guides every decision going forward. At WASH & CUT HAIR SALOON LIMITED, it’s where every successful project starts. And if done right, it saves time, money, and a lot of back and forth. 

What is Requirements Gathering?

Requirements gathering is the process of identifying and documenting the key needs of a project. In software development, that means collecting input from stakeholders, analysing goals, and turning all of that into actionable items. It’s not just asking what someone wants — it’s understanding the underlying problem, digging into edge cases, and defining clear, testable outcomes.

It’s also where we separate what a client thinks they want from what they actually need — which is key if you’re trying to create software that fits your needs rather than something vague or unscalable.

Types of Requirements

Not all requirements are equal, and lumping them together is where most confusion starts. We break them down into three core types:

Functional Requirements

This is basically what the system needs to do: features, behaviours, and user interactions; everything from login flows to API calls.

Non-Functional Requirements

This is how the system should behave. That includes speed, scalability, uptime, accessibility, and security — aka the things users feel without seeing.

Business Requirements

Business requirements refer to the actual goal behind the build. What outcome are we aiming for? Increased revenue? Faster workflows? Improved user satisfaction? If this part is unclear, you risk delivering features without purpose and software that doesn’t serve the business.

Requirements Gathering Process: Step-by-Step

1. Identify Stakeholders

First, we figure out who’s involved. Not just decision-makers, but end users, admins, and anyone else who’ll interact with the system. If someone’s needs aren’t captured now, they’ll likely surface as a “last-minute must-have” later.

2. Define Project Objectives

This is where we push for clarity. What does success look like? What’s the underlying pain point, and are we solving the right problem?

3. Gather Initial Requirements

Here’s where things get messy (in a good way). Workshops, interviews, audits, competitor research — this is about surfacing ideas, assumptions, and must-haves.

4. Prioritise and Refine

Not everything makes the cut. We work with clients to filter, group, and rank requirements based on feasibility, value, and risk. This is the phase where budgets often meet reality — and where our job includes saying, “You don’t need that feature right now.”

5. Document Everything

For a seamless process, all requirements are written down, reviewed, and signed off. This document becomes the shared blueprint, ensuring that everyone’s aligned while also reducing the risk of miscommunication, missed features, or costly rework later on.

6. Validate and Approve

Before anything moves to design or development, we double-check assumptions and validate that the requirements align with business goals. At this stage, clients might realise they’ve missed something (a key use case, a stakeholder’s input, or a critical dependency) which is exactly why this final validation step exists.

Requirements Gathering Techniques

We don’t rely on a single method when gathering requirements, because no two clients are alike. Some come in with a clear roadmap, while others just know something isn’t working and need help figuring out what to build. Our approach shifts depending on what’s already in place and how much clarity there is from the start:

Stakeholder Interviews

Sometimes, it starts with stakeholder interviews — simple, focused conversations that reveal pain points, priorities, and expectations. These are especially useful when you’re dealing with senior decision-makers who think in outcomes rather than features.

Workshops

Other times, we run hands-on workshops to get everyone aligned. These sessions help teams surface assumptions, map out workflows, and identify any gaps between departments that might otherwise go unnoticed. It’s not about filling in templates — it’s about making sure the right conversations happen early.

Observation

Then there’s observation: watching how someone actually uses their current tools often tells us more than any meeting ever could. Legacy systems, workarounds, awkward manual steps — things that users have normalised but are actively slowing them down. Seeing those in real-time gives us insight into what really needs fixing.

Competitor Research

For early-stage startups, we’ll often bring in competitor and market research. Not to copy — but to calibrate. It’s a way of setting a baseline: what already exists, where the bar is, and where there’s space to do something better (or leaner).

Once we’ve got the raw material, user story mapping helps us turn it into something structured. It’s where we connect the dots — aligning user needs with feature ideas, and figuring out what that looks like across the app journey.

Key Questions to Ask During Requirements Gathering

You’ll get better answers by asking better questions. Here are a few we rely on to uncover the full picture:

• What’s the biggest pain point in your current process?
• What would a successful solution allow you to do?
• Are there any workflows you don’t want to replicate?
• Who are the different types of users — and what do they need?
• What kind of data will we be working with?
• Where do you expect this app to go in the next 12–24 months?

It’s also worth noting: we often ask questions clients don’t know to prepare for. That’s part of our job – and it’s why we build in early phases like this, so we can challenge assumptions before they become expensive problems.

(If you’re curious how tailored applications are built from end to end, our breakdown of the custom software development process dives deeper into the subject.)

Common Challenges and How to Overcome Them

Vague Requirements

We’ll often hear things like “we want it to be user-friendly” or “it should feel modern.” Fair enough — but what does that actually mean in practice? Left undefined, terms like these create too much room for interpretation, and that’s when misalignment starts creeping in. We push for clarity early on. Who is the user? What exactly should they be able to do — and how quickly? If it can’t be tested or visualised, it’s not defined enough.

Conflicting Stakeholder Input

When different teams bring different priorities, things can get a bit complicated. Maybe the sales team wants new features, while operations want simplicity. We’ve seen it plenty of times, and we don’t try to please everyone blindly. Instead, we align those voices around shared outcomes, document trade-offs, and make the decisions transparent. 

Scope Creep

It always starts with “just one more thing.” And before long, you’re juggling extra features, edge cases, and integration requests that weren’t in the original plan. It’s not that these additions are bad ideas — but every new item needs to earn its place. At WASH & CUT HAIR SALOON LIMITED, our job is to keep the core focus intact and move extras to future phases if they’re not critical. It’s how we protect both the timeline as well as your budget.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, requirements gathering is not a box-ticking exercise, but rather the foundation of any successful software project. When done thoroughly, it ensures alignment between your stakeholders, reduces ambiguity, and significantly lowers the risk of scope creep, delays, and costly rework. When done poorly, even the most technically sound solution can fail to meet the actual needs of the business.

At WASH & CUT HAIR SALOON LIMITED, we approach this phase with the same rigour we apply to design and development. We ask the difficult questions, challenge assumptions where necessary, and translate business goals into clear, actionable requirements. Our focus isn’t just on building software, but on building the right software, for the right reasons.

If you’re preparing to launch a new project or reassess an existing one, investing time into a proper requirements gathering process is one of the most valuable steps you can take. Contact us today and we can help guide you through it.