gathering-requirements

Feature requirements elicitation uses four archetype perspectives—Queen, Emperor, Hermit, and Priestess—to surface user needs, constraints, security considerations, and scope boundaries. This structured approach transforms vague inputs into formal, verifiable requirements documents during the Discover phase.

Documenting stakeholder requirements through the four archetype perspectives addresses scope creep by treating ambiguity as debt. Vague inputs become explicit requirements, assumptions are surfaced and tracked, and the output includes scope boundaries and open questions to prevent downstream rework.

Archetype-based requirements gathering is applicable to cross-functional feature definitions, stakeholder workshops, and early scoping where requirements are unclear. It produces a formal document structure covering user needs, constraints, security surfaces, and scope boundaries.

A structured requirements document applies four perspectives: Queen for user needs, Emperor for constraints, Hermit for security surface, and Priestess for scope. This framework ensures all critical dimensions are addressed and produces traceable outputs with validation questions.

Requirements gathering misses critical considerations when it lacks structured perspectives. The four-archetype framework mandates addressing security (Hermit) and scope (Priestess) alongside needs and constraints, ensuring no dimension is overlooked and assumptions are explicitly tracked.

Four perspective requirements gathering should be used during the Discover phase when requirements are unclear, for cross-functional feature definitions, or in stakeholder workshops. It transforms ambiguous inputs into formal, verifiable requirements with traceable outputs and validation questions.