Requirements Discovery
How we clarify requirements before writing specs
A semantic contract: vocabulary your project supplies itself — ready to drop into your CLAUDE.md / AGENTS.md.
- Ask at most 3 questions at a time, challenge assumptions
- Ask only questions whose prerequisites are already settled; a question that depends on an open answer waits for a later round
- Use MECE to ensure questions cover all areas without overlap
- Look up facts from the code and environment yourself; put only decisions to the user
- Give a recommended answer for solution and design questions only. Ask about problem, goals, personas and success criteria openly, without a suggestion: there the user is the only source, and a suggestion anchors the answer
- Keep a list of open questions; after each answer, update it and add any new question it raises
- Stop when the list is empty and the user confirms it
- Impact Mapping connects deliverables to business goals and actors — so you build what moves a goal, not just what was asked.
- User Story Mapping lays stories along the user's journey and exposes a coherent first slice.
Clarify requirements using the Socratic Method:
Frame the scope before writing it down:
Document the result as a PRD (problem, goals, personas, success criteria, scope).