In the previous chapter, we looked at the initial preparation, and it is foundation to this chapter. We recommend that you go through the previous chapters before you start reading this chapter.

In this chapter, we will take you through the entire process of project execution, covering all the phases, starting with requirement gathering to and continuing to post-go live.

Before we start explaining the requirement gathering phase, let’s look at a couple of powerful quotes:

When we look at the preceding quotes, we can easily infer that if we spend time understanding the problem well, we can plan the solution in a much better way. This helps to better plan the implementation as well. This is true, because many industry experts have experienced this and they agree that unless we understand gravity of the problem is, we will never be able to find a good solution to that problem.

Let us look at the importance of understanding a problem (or a business challenge) better by revisiting an example which was mentioned in the first chapter of this book.

In Chapter 1, Consultant – An Introduction, we explained the concept of a consultant by using an example of a doctor and patient. If you recall, in the second approach, as the doctor started asking the patient relevant questions, the patient felt good about it and started to think that the doctor was trying to understand the problem that he/she was facing. So, with every question from the doctor, the patient felt more and more comfortable and started believing that the doctor would soon find out the root cause of the problem and suggest effective treatment.

From this example, you can infer that understanding the business challenge not only helps you deliver the best services to your clients, but also helps to build confidence in clients and creates trust, which eventually helps you to get things done by the client faster.

In a nutshell, and equating to the example of the doctor, we can say that understanding a problem is similar to understanding the business challenge of your client. The terminology for this is referred to as Requirement Gathering. We must also understand that requirement gathering is not just confined to understanding the problem. Requirement gathering can not only all the information that we need to understand the problem, but also, the same information that helps us to design and implement the best solution for the client.