Elicitation

BABOK devotes a full 21 pages to the Elicitation and Collaboration knowledge area. In the glossary it defines elicitation as “the Iterative derivation and extraction of information from stakeholders or other sources.” 

Bit vague. So I decided to look it up in the Oxford Dictionary. To my amusement I discovered that the word’s origin is the Latin word ‘elicit’ meaning ‘to drawn out by trickery or magic’! 

Personally, I have observed ‘trickery’ and ‘magic’ used in many software projects. 

Trickery

Choose the solution first and then convince the stakeholders the solution meets their requirements! 

Magic

Conjure requirements out of nowhere because the stakeholders are “too busy”! 

In many of these projects, the true requirements “emerged” from the solution. Much to the horror of the tricksters and magicians.