A feature request is rarely a complete description of a business need. Stakeholders may suggest a solution without explaining the goal behind it, and a seemingly simple story can hide choices the team has not discussed. Requirements discovery brings business stakeholders and delivery-team members together to uncover those assumptions before they become implementation decisions. section 4.2.8 section 1.3
Discovery happens at two levels. Strategic conversations ask which business goals matter and which features might help achieve them. Feature-level conversations turn a proposed feature or User Story into shared business rules, concrete examples, counterexamples, and agreed acceptance criteria. Neither level is a one-time handoff: teams revisit priorities as conditions change and released features teach them more. section 4.0 section 6.0 section 4.1.2
Choose a conversation format that fits the decision at hand:
- Bring the wider team and stakeholders together early when shared understanding is more valuable than the substantial time and coordination a large workshop requires. section 6.1
- Use Backlog Refinement or Sprint Planning for story discussions, but allow more time elsewhere if those sessions cannot examine each story in enough detail. section 6.1
- Use a Three Amigos discussion before implementation when a smaller group will do: a business analyst or product owner judges value, a tester probes edge cases, and a developer raises technical considerations. All need reasonable familiarity with the problem space. section 6.1
Start with one journey, then question it
A traveler moves a Monday flight to Wednesday online; the replacement ticket is in the same price category, so there is no extra charge. That story is a starting point, not a complete specification. Ask what happens when the price category differs or every flight is full. The answers—and unresolved questions—help expose rules and shape acceptance criteria. section 6.5.1 section 6.0
Keep the discussion visible. In Example Mapping, a feature or User Story anchors cards for business rules, examples and counterexamples, and unanswered questions. The map helps the group stay focused and retain what it discovers. Once the team agrees on the relevant scenarios, it may draft automated scenarios together to reduce information loss; discovery itself remains a conversation, not a test-writing exercise. section 3.3.1 section 6.1
