User requirements gathering

User requirements, the expression of users’ needs and challenges, are essential considerations during the design and development of a new product or solution. Collecting user requirements enables engineers and technologists to build the narrative of what a solution will achieve, why it is important to achieve this, and how this will be accomplished.

User requirements form the basis for evaluating and validating the added value of any service or technology. Gathering and analysing these can involve a range of different methods that must be matched to the product or service to ensure successful and sustainable outputs.

Trilateral Research’s team employs a collaborative, co-design, end-user-based approach. Our team works closely with clients and end users to discover user needs, pain points, and potential benefits. We investigate:

• what goals are users trying to achieve?
• what barriers are preventing users from realising these goals?
• why do these barriers exist?
• how might legal, ethical and privacy concerns affect these goals?
• who is affected by the proposed solutions, and how?
• how would a proposed solution impact current client practices?

Trilateral define user requirements in the form of user stories, framing requirements from users’ perspectives, and contextualising their needs. This approach allows us to consider how technological innovations combined with user practice can create previously unforeseen avenues and solutions.

Trilateral Research has extensive experience working on research and commercial projects with varied stakeholders in a range of diverse domains. Our team works with stakeholders throughout the project lifecycle to iteratively revisit the requirements to ensure we jointly understand what they mean, why they’re needed, and how specific features help achieve each goal. With this grounded understanding of the needs, we can also directly address specific ethical and privacy concerns that might arise.