Your requirements document in one hour: the awkward-questions method

A timer, four blocks: ten minutes for the problem, twenty for journeys, twenty for awkward questions and ten for the list of things to exclude. The complete step-by-step method.

One hour is enough for a useful first requirements document, in four timed blocks: 10 minutes for the problem, 20 for two narrated journeys, 20 for awkward questions and 10 for the list of what the first version will not do. Two to three pages emerge, ready to revise later.

Minutes 0 to 10: the problem, from the perspective of the person experiencing it

Write one sentence, just one, starting from the person served: ‘My customers need to book a time slot without calling me.’ Ban screens and buttons for those ten minutes; if a solution slips in, ‘we need a calendar’, rephrase it as a need, ‘people must see free slots’. This sentence will arbitrate the rest of the hour. If two problems compete, write both sentences and choose one: one requirements document per product.

Minutes 10 to 30: two journeys, told in the present tense

Choose the two most frequent journeys and tell them from start to finish in the present tense, with a first name: ‘Claire opens the page, chooses Tuesday at 10 a.m., leaves her number and receives confirmation.’ Twenty minutes for two journeys, no more: the third waits for version two. A narrated journey reveals gaps a feature list hides: what does Claire see if the slot was just taken? Note each gap in the margin without solving it; the next block handles that.

Minutes 30 to 50: the awkward questions

Twenty minutes on what projects resolve too late. Money first: how is an amount rounded, who applies VAT and at which rate, what happens to a deposit if Claire cancels? Our measurement campaigns showed it: submissions losing jury points failed on these cases, retroactivity, duplicates, rounding cents, never on the welcome screen. Permissions next: who sees what, who can change, who can delete? Finally, tricky cases: duplicates, last-minute cancellation, data entered twice. Answer each question in one sentence; ‘to be decided’ is acceptable, silent ambiguity is not.

Minutes 50 to 60: the list of noes

Finish with what the first version will not do: ‘no online payments’, ‘no mobile app’, ‘no multiple practitioners’. Ten minutes, a deliberate list. It protects your budget and schedule better than any later negotiation because it is written before every new idea seems small. Date it: today's no can become next year's yes, and the date prevents debating it twice.

After the hour

You have two to three pages: a problem sentence, two journeys, answers to awkward questions and a list of noes. Give them as they stand to whoever builds, agency, freelancer or AI agent team. In Maestro, this document is raw material: agents challenge it, ask remaining questions and return complete requirements for approval. Keep your margin notes too: gaps identified in journeys become the next session's questions. In a month, repeat the hour: a short, current document serves you better than a perfect binder.