Document Project Requirements

How to Gather and Document Project Requirements: Template

One of the most critical things a project manager must do at the start of any project is to get everyone on the same page about the scope.

Lack of clarity and information can lead to fear, concern, and misdirected focus that takes away from creating the best project possible. That’s why gathering and documenting project requirements is such an important step. This ensures you, your team, and all your stakeholders are clear about what the project is (and isn’t).

Before we dive into the process, let’s lay some groundwork with a few simple definitions.

What are project requirements?

Project requirements are specific tasks, features, or functions that must be completed for the project to be considered done. While many other subtasks and decisions will happen along the way, these requirements are the must-haves that will make or break the project's outcome.

As the project manager, you’ll work together with key stakeholders to determine what’s required to make the project a success. This list of project requirements will help guide everyone else involved in the project, giving them a clear sense of what needs to be done.

5 types of requirements

There are different types of project requirements, and what you decide to document will really depend on the project. Here are a few categories you might consider:

• Business requirements: These define the project’s business needs and goals and should help you understand why this project is happening. Connected to larger business objectives, they’re often tied to financial, marketing, or marketplace positioning goals.
• Stakeholder requirements: These requirements come directly from a project stakeholder or stakeholder group.
• Technical requirements: These describe specific behaviors within a technical system that must be completed to satisfy a user need.‍
• Functional requirements: If you’re creating a product or system, these requirements will describe how the product or experience will function or behave.‍
• Quality requirements: These requirements set the standard for the implementation of experience, design, or code. For example, your project might have accessibility standards you must meet (e.g., WCAG AAA).

What is requirements gathering?

Requirements gathering is the process of identifying the tasks, features, or functions that must be complete for a project to achieve its goals and be defined as a success. This process happens right at the initial phase of a project, though requirements might evolve with a project over time.

In a perfect world, the sales team or project sponsor would have the requirements list all buttoned up to hand off to you. But let’s be honest: That will never happen because it’s simply too early in the process to get it done.

It’s up to you as the project manager to pull together a concrete list of requirements to guide the project. (If you have a business analyst on your team, they may also lend a hand.)

What is the requirements gathering process?

While your process may change based on the project size, type, and information on hand, requirements gathering generally includes these basic phases:

• Initial discovery: Collecting any possible tasks, features, or functions the project may require from the project sponsor, client sales team, and all relevant project stakeholders.
• List refinement: The process of reviewing, refining, and clarifying the project requirements with a smaller group of key stakeholders.
• Requirement documentation: Capturing the final list of requirements in a file that can be shared with the project team and stakeholders.
• Final approval: Confirming all stakeholders share a common understanding of the project requirements and agree to the final document.
• Ongoing management: Managing requirements and updating documentation throughout the project as it grows and changes.