Analyze and review notes before following up

- Sometimes after a requirements conversation, I can hardly read my own notes. And yes, I like to take notes by hand. It's a bit scary when you could barely make out your own handwriting, but I also realized that I was so focused on eye contact with the other person I wasn't paying attention to my own writing. I would rather have maintained eye contact and keep the relationship strong than have perfect notes. Following up on a few things to clarify isn't always a bad thing either. It's critical to review your conversation notes for a few very important reasons. First, you want to make sure that you understand the intent of what the person was talking about, not just the words of the notes that you took. I like to compare this to the active listening you do during the conversation and reviewing your notes with that active listening mindset. While reading and thinking about your notes, allow your mind to connect emotionally with the stakeholders and allow yourself to analyze in order to develop further questions. This analysis is critical to identifying requirements gaps and also a shared understanding. So many missed requirements could be blamed on the idea that the stakeholder didn't mention it. But wait a minute, I want to challenge that and ask, have we truly analyzed what they've said and been proactive about thinking about possible gaps? I'll typically have 15 to 20 or more questions to ask after one of these conversations, especially and even after reviewing my notes and thinking about what needs to be explored further. Once you've had some time to focus on the notes, determine a plan to follow up on further questions and clarifications. Your plan might be to get more time with them or send a note with some questions to clarify things further. This is your opportunity to analyze, be consultative, and improve the requirements. Taking the requirements from stated to actual with your analysis is worth so much value in our role comes in. Some analysts like to just type up the notes and send 'em off for review, but I don't recommend this without these analysis pieces and looking for the intent and missing gaps. Be strategic about what you send and the value that you're adding. Having some follow-up questions keeps the dialogue going rather than simply just validating what was said. Another key area is to write up the decisions that were made. Also, give them a heads up on the next steps and when you'll be in touch again. Remember when sending follow-up emails that the project is likely not their full-time job, so emails need to be concise and bulleted with lots of white space so they're easy to read and easy to reply and act on. Rambling emails will often not get replies. Following up from a requirements conversation is important and a very strategic part of our work. Leveraging this step can ensure your relationships are positive and missed requirements are minimized.