Business Requirements Interview

This skill guides you through a structured interview process to gather comprehensive business requirements for a software project.

Interview Process

Rules

1. One question at a time - Never ask multiple questions in a single turn
2. Provide options - Each question includes 2-5 recommended options plus free-form input
3. Track progress - All Q&A pairs are immediately appended to {base_directory}/artifacts/business-interview.jsonl
4. Resume capability - If JSONL exists, continue from last question
5. Structured output - Generate business-requirements.yaml in {base_directory}/requirements/ upon completion

Interview Categories

The interview covers these areas in order:

1. Problem Definition & Scope

   • What problem are you solving?
   • What's the core value proposition?
   • What's in scope vs out of scope?

2. User Personas & Use Cases

   • Who are the primary users?
   • What are their goals?
   • What are their pain points?

3. Success Criteria & Metrics

   • How will you measure success?
   • What are the key outcomes?
   • What metrics matter?

4. Constraints & Dependencies

   • Technical constraints?
   • Business constraints?
   • Timeline constraints?
   • External dependencies?

5. Priority & Timeline

   • What's the MVP scope?
   • What's the timeline?
   • What's the priority order?

Question Format

Each question follows this structure:

## [Category Name]

**Question:** [Clear, specific question]

**Options:**
1. [Option 1] (Recommended) - [Brief description of this approach]
2. [Option 2] - [Brief description]
3. [Option 3] - [Brief description]
4. Type your own answer

Example Questions

Problem Definition

## Problem Definition

**Question:** What is the primary problem your project aims to solve?

**Options:**
1. Automate manual workflow (Recommended) - Replace time-consuming manual processes with automated workflows
2. Improve existing solution - Enhance or replace current tooling that's inadequate
3. New capability - Build something entirely new that doesn't exist yet
4. Type your own answer

User Personas

## User Personas

**Question:** Who are your primary target users?

**Options:**
1. Individual developers (Recommended) - Solo developers working on personal or small projects
2. Development teams - Small to medium teams collaborating on shared codebases
3. Enterprise organizations - Large teams with complex workflows and compliance needs
4. End users (non-technical) - Users who interact with the product but don't write code
5. Type your own answer

Scope Definition

## Scope Definition

**Question:** What is the initial scope for this project?

**Options:**
1. MVP/Proof of concept (Recommended) - Minimal viable product to validate core assumptions
2. Full-featured release - Complete implementation of all planned features
3. Iterative enhancement - Start with core features, expand over time
4. Type your own answer

JSONL Format

Track all questions and answers in {base_directory}/artifacts/business-interview.jsonl.

See references/interview-jsonl-spec.md for the complete JSONL schema with field definitions and examples.

Output Format

Generate {base_directory}/requirements/business-requirements.yaml upon interview completion.

Create directory if it doesn't exist:

mkdir -p {base_directory}/requirements
mkdir -p {base_directory}/artifacts

The output document includes these top-level sections: project, version, generated, overview (problem, value_proposition, scope), personas, use_cases, functional_requirements (FR-NNN format), non_functional_requirements, success_criteria, constraints, dependencies, timeline, assumptions, and risks.

See references/output-spec.md for the complete document specification with all fields, types, and validation rules.

See references/example.yaml for a full example.

Usage

To start a new interview:

/business-requirements-interview [base-directory]

If no directory is provided, auto-detect by looking for requirements/business-requirements.yaml in the current directory.

If not found, prompt the user: "Where should I create the requirements documents?"

Wait for the user to provide a path before proceeding. Store as base_directory.

The skill will automatically:

1. Check for existing {base_directory}/artifacts/business-interview.jsonl
2. Resume from the last question if found
3. Continue asking questions until complete
4. Generate business-requirements.yaml in {base_directory}/requirements/ when finished
5. Save interview transcript to {base_directory}/artifacts/business-interview.jsonl

Best Practices

1. Be specific - Provide detailed answers when using free-form input
2. Think broadly - Consider edge cases and future needs
3. Prioritize ruthlessly - Not everything can be in MVP
4. Document assumptions - Make implicit assumptions explicit
5. Consider constraints - Be realistic about technical and business limitations

Review & Gap Analysis

After generating business-requirements.yaml, automatically perform a gap analysis:

Completeness Check

Overview Section:

• Problem statement is clear and specific
• Value proposition explains the "why"
• Scope clearly defines in/out of scope items
• Scope is realistic for the timeline

Personas:

• All user types are represented
• Each persona has clear goals
• Pain points are specific, not generic
• Personas are distinct (not overlapping)

Requirements:

• Functional requirements are testable
• Priority is assigned to each requirement
• Rationale explains why each requirement exists
• No duplicate or conflicting requirements

Non-Functional Requirements:

• Performance targets are measurable
• Security requirements address key risks
• Usability requirements are specific
• Reliability requirements are realistic

Success Criteria:

• Each criterion has a metric
• Targets are achievable and measurable
• Criteria align with business goals

Constraints:

• Technical constraints are realistic
• Business constraints are acknowledged
• Timeline is feasible
• Budget constraints are explicit

Dependencies:

• Internal dependencies identified
• External dependencies documented
• Critical path dependencies noted

Consistency Check

• No contradictions between requirements
• Priorities align with scope
• Timeline aligns with requirements complexity
• Success criteria align with scope

Gap Identification

Common Gaps to Check:

• Missing edge cases in requirements
• Unstated assumptions about users
• Implicit constraints not documented
• Missing error handling scenarios
• Unclear success/failure criteria
• Missing integration points
• Undocumented business rules

Review Output

Generate a gap analysis report with:

gap_analysis:
  completeness_score: [1-10]
  consistency_score: [1-10]

  gaps_found:
    - category: [category]
      issue: [description]
      severity: [high/medium/low]
      recommendation: [how to address]

  strong_areas:
    - [what's well-defined]

  suggestions:
    - [improvement suggestions]

  ready_for_next_phase: [yes/no/with-modifications]

If critical gaps found (severity: high), ask:

"I've identified some gaps in the business requirements. Would you like to:

1. Address them now (I'll ask follow-up questions)
2. Proceed to technical requirements (address later)
3. Review the gaps and decide"

Next Steps

After completing the business requirements interview and gap analysis:

1. Review gap analysis report
2. Address any critical gaps
3. Use /technical-requirements-interview to derive technical specifications
4. Use /implementation-planner to generate implementation plans

Examples

See references/example.yaml for a complete sample output.