Friday, May 1, 2026 | 7:35AM to 8:50AM

This Event will be delivered via Zoom Meeting

Note: Registrants will be sent the Zoom link in the registration confirmation email, and also one day prior to the meeting!

Agenda:
7:35 - 7:50am  Login to Zoom, Networking
7:50 - 8:50am  Presentation and Discussion

The PM for this event is: Joseph Carfagno - [email protected]

Registration closes: Thursday, April 30, 2026 at Midnight

Eliciting Requirements from Busy Stakeholders
facilitated by Joseph Carfagno, PMP

Eliciting requirements from busy stakeholders often necessitates creative and adaptive approaches to ensure participation without overburdening them. Strategies can include:

1. Selectively Prioritize Stakeholder Input: Identify the most critical stakeholders and focus interactions on them to minimize unnecessary disruptions to their schedules.
2. Leverage Pre-existing Documentation: Review business cases, process flows, or problem logs to preemptively gather insights, reducing the extent of direct engagement needed.
3. Utilize Targeted Interviews: Schedule individual interviews at convenient times for stakeholders, using prepared questions to elicit meaningful input. This allows focused use of their time.
4. Visual Techniques: Use tools like storyboards, prototypes, or workflow models to visually represent potential solutions. These materials provide stakeholders with concrete examples, reducing reliance on abstract discussions and accelerating feedback.
5. Surveys or Questionnaires: Use concise, targeted surveys (open-ended or closed-ended) to gather input quickly, especially from geographically dispersed or time-constrained stakeholders.
6. Facilitated Workshops: Organized, well-structured group meetings with a neutral facilitator can allow concentrated collaboration and focused discussions over a shorter, scheduled period.
7. Iteration and Incremental Feedback: Work in stages to provide stakeholders with progressively refined outputs, enabling them to contribute reactively rather than proactively articulating requirements from scratch.
8. Leverage Digital Tools: Employ interactive tools such as shared documents, online forums, or communication platforms to collect input asynchronously, thus reducing the need for real-time meetings.
9. Engage Proxy Representatives: Collaborate with business analysts, product owners, or other surrogates who can represent stakeholder perspectives effectively.
10.  Align with Stakeholder Communication Preferences: Tailor engagement methods based on the communication preferences outlined in the stakeholder engagement and communication approach, such as informal discussions for certain individuals.

By combining these techniques, you can effectively gather requirements while respecting stakeholders’ time constraints and maximizing the efficiency of their involvement.
How many of these methods do you use? What other methods do you use? How successful have they been?

PDU Info: You will need to record and self-report your PDUs for this activity. Following the guidelines of the new CCR program and the PMI Talent Triangle®, the PDUs for this course can be applied as follows: 1.0 PDU - Ways of Working

Joseph Carfagno has over 20 years of project experience in IT, primarily implementing and supporting enterprise-wide financial systems. As a program lead for SNEC-PMI he is committed to maintaining a valuable and sustainable series of Shelton meetings. He has gathered requirements in many ways.