Why hire an expert Requirements Analyst? Why not gather your own requirements internally?

Here are five reasons not to do it yourself:

1. You’re in the box. You can’t even smell the cardboard anymore, much less describe it with a critical eye. An outsider will help you see yourselves objectively.
2. The analyst has been here before. They’ve got the T-shirt,  understand the process and they already know what good requirements look like.
3. Analysts are linear thinkers. These are people who get ill if the condiments are before the buns at the church picnic. Process thinking comes naturally to an analyst. You may or may not have honed that skill in your work.
4. A good Requirements Analyst is also an experienced facilitator. There are different kinds of interviews to conduct: Executives, managers, staff, customers, etc. Our people can gather the essentials from each audience efficiently.
5. You have better things to do. You had a full time job before this new project came along. Don’t you really want to leverage your strengths?

Using an experienced Requirements Analyst to systematically gather and document the features of your new system is a very efficient use of resources — yours and theirs.