Best possible communication for gathering business requirements

You know that the business requirements for an IT or business project won’t be presented to you on a silver platter, right? It will require considerable skills to extract the information you need in a short time to be successful. It is not possible to just talk to a specialist (or Product Owner in SCRUM terms) and write down what they tell you/your team. You have to really understand what the underlying drivers are for these requirements.

Example: A business requirement states that the Turn-around-time for sales orders needs to be reduced to 2 days. The current sales order Turn-around-time is 3 days. In this case let’s assume the requirement comes from an executive meeting where the CEO requested to shorten the billing cycle to increase the cash flow. The different teams in that meeting translated that into to-dos for their respective areas. The Sales Team wanted to contribute by reducing the sales turn-around-time since this will allow the invoice to go out earlier.
Point here is that while the requirement is certainly valid, it always makes sense to understand where a requirement is coming from and to explore additional options to address it.
In order to gain the necessary understanding for the real (underlying) business requirements I think you need to follow some basic principles

• Give your undivided attention. It is not only the most respectful thing to do but also the most effective. Reduce all distractions (e.g. phone calls, emails, walk ins) to a minimum. If you have a face-to-face meeting:

• face the other person and maintain eye contact
•  be open and emphatic
• show you care by making sure you understand the other person
• respect the other person’s views, especially when they are different from yours

• Focus completely on the other person
• Ask open ended questions that encourage the other person to talk (e.g. Who, What, When, Where, How, Why? Questions)
• Pause and think before you respond. This shows the other person that you really listen.
• Do not interrupt the other person!! Take notes and go back to them after the person finishes. By listening to the other person first you foster an environment that inspires openness and trust. This is critical to get to the core of the requirements

•  Use active/reflective listening skills
• Restate what was said in a nonjudgmental way. This ensures that the message was received without changes. 
• Ask questions that encourage the other person to provide their own views (e.g. What do you think is the best option to address this? What do you think is the best next step to address this issue?)

Here are some additional nonverbal communication tips that will help you to improve your communication skills. If clear and precise communication skills are important for your success then I would suggest you also record yourself (video and/or audio) to learn how you appear to other people. It might feel a little clumsy in the beginning but will pay off with better requirements and hence a better project.