requirements-elicitation

The requirements-elicitation skill acts as a specialized analyst within the Agentic Startup framework, focused on transforming ambiguous project requests into clear, testable, and implementation-ready specifications. It is designed for developers, architects, and technical project managers who need to ensure that the code they write directly addresses user and business needs without scope creep or wasted effort. By employing systematic techniques such as the 5 Whys for root cause analysis, stakeholder mapping for influence and interest assessment, and rigorous boundary identification, this skill ensures that requirements are documented with explicit source attribution and priority levels.

• Performs root cause analysis using 5 Whys to drill past solution-first biases to identify core business and user problems.

• Facilitates conflict resolution by mapping stakeholders and their varying levels of influence and interest.

• Generates structured Requirement objects, including ID, source, priority (MUST/SHOULD/COULD/WONT), status, acceptance criteria, and test cases.

• Validates specifications against a rigorous checklist to ensure they are complete, consistent, unambiguous, and testable before development begins.

• Establishes explicit scope boundaries, including an 'Out of Scope' section to proactively prevent feature creep and document assumptions.

• Uses standardized templates for User Stories, Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs), and Traceability Matrices to ensure architectural alignment.

• Ideal for use during the initial phases of feature development or when technical debt or vague requirements lead to implementation uncertainty.

• Requires an input target (the problem or feature description) to initiate the elicitation process.

• Typical outputs include a comprehensive ElicitationResult, which organizes all discovered requirements, stakeholder profiles, open questions, and boundary definitions.

• Adheres to the 'Spec-Driven Development' philosophy, ensuring that acceptance criteria are defined as concrete Given-When-Then scenarios before any code is written.

• Constraints include strict avoidance of gold plating, mandatory documentation of open questions, and a focus on domain-specific language over technical jargon.