As a Product Owner (PO) or Business Analyst (BA), you have surely encountered situations where a client or stakeholder (or even yourself) presents very general requirements, such as:

"I want to create a chatbot agent."

Typically, you would need to organize multiple meetings, ask a series of questions, and spend a lot of time clarifying the request before you can even begin writing the Software Requirements Specification (SRS) document. But now, with the support of AI, you can completely optimize this process quickly and effectively.

AI Prompt - "Software Requirements Elicitation and Specification Expert"

One of the most effective ways to harness the power of AI is to use a specialized prompt designed specifically for software requirements specification and elicitation. This prompt directs the AI to act as a business analysis expert with over 15 years of experience, proficient in international standards like IEEE 830, IREB, ISO/IEC/IEEE 29148:2018, and Agile methodologies (User Stories).
This prompt includes the following main parts:

Role and Task Introduction: Establishes the AI's awareness of its responsibilities and scope of work.
Structured Questioning Skills: Guides the AI on how to ask questions in a clear, step-by-step manner, from general to specific.
Systematic Requirements Elicitation Process: A 5-step process from evaluating initial information to creating a complete requirements document.
Requirements Quality Standards: Ensures requirements are clear, specific, well-prioritized, and non-contradictory.
The full prompt content is available at the end of the article.

From a Vague Idea to a Complete SRS Document with AI

Let's look at a real-world example to better understand the effectiveness of this prompt. Suppose you start with a very general requirement:

"I want to create a chatbot agent."

Without AI assistance, you would have to come up with a series of questions yourself to clarify the objective, target users, desired features, etc. But with this specialized prompt, the AI will proactively ask structured questions to elicit information from you:

Exploratory Questions:
- "Could you describe in more detail the main purpose of this chatbot?"
- "Who are the primary users? What do they expect from it?"
Clarifying Questions:
- "Which platforms do you want the chatbot to integrate with? For example, JIRA, Slack, or Confluence?"
- "What are the specific tasks that the chatbot needs to perform?"
Probing and Confirming Questions:
- "How do you want the chatbot to handle Natural Language Processing (NLP)?"
- "Is user confirmation required before the chatbot performs certain actions?"
  After just a few brief interactions like this, from a very vague initial idea ("create a chatbot agent"), you can have a complete SRS document compliant with the IEEE 830 standard:

Clear project objectives
Detailed features (JIRA integration to view/update tasks; Slack integration for chat analysis to auto-log work; Confluence integration to auto-generate progress reports)
Non-functional requirements (response performance under 3 seconds, OAuth2 security)
Proposed system architecture (Agent-based with LangChain and OpenAI GPT)
A specific, phased implementation roadmap

PO Skills Used by the AI Prompt

Using this specialized prompt is, in fact, applying the core skills of a professional PO:
Elicitation: The prompt helps the AI ask open-ended questions step-by-step to clarify information from the user, moving from general needs to specific details.
Business Analysis: The AI is guided to transform the information collected from the user into structured requirements, clearly categorizing them into functional and non-functional requirements.
Prioritization: Through guided questions, the AI can help determine the priority of features, helping stakeholders focus on the most important elements.
Requirements Documentation: The AI is capable of generating a complete SRS document according to the IEEE 830 standard, ensuring professionalism and completeness.
Effective Communication: The prompt guides the AI to ask simple, easy-to-understand questions that are appropriate for the end-user, facilitating the collection of accurate information.

Outstanding Benefits of Using AI in Writing Requirements

Applying AI to the requirement writing process brings tangible benefits:

Saves time: A detailed SRS document can be generated after just a few brief interactions.
Minimizes errors & omissions: The systematic questioning process helps ensure no important information is missed.
Enhances communication & collaboration: Clear questions make it easier for stakeholders to provide accurate information.
Makes it easy to start with unclear ideas: You can quickly clarify requirements without needing highly detailed initial preparation.

How to Get Started?

To start applying this prompt to your work right away:

Prepare an initial idea or requirement, even if it's just a rough one.
Input the prompt into an AI tool (like ChatGPT or LangChain).
Begin interacting by answering the questions posed by the AI.
After a few short interactions, you will receive a complete requirements document.

Conclusion

In today's fast-paced and fiercely competitive product development landscape, optimizing the requirements elicitation and specification phase using AI is an inevitable trend. With this specialized prompt, you can transform vague initial ideas into high-quality requirement documents in a very short amount of time.
Try it today to experience the difference!

Full Prompt

## AI Identity: Software Requirements Elicitation and Specification Expert
### Introduction
You are a Software Requirements Elicitation and Specification Expert with over 15 years of experience in business analysis and writing software requirements documents. You are proficient in methodologies such as IREB, IEEE 830, User Stories, and familiar with standards like CMMI and ISO/IEC/IEEE 29148:2018.
### Primary Task
- Write high-quality software requirements documents.
- Elicit information from users through structured questions to clarify requirements.
### Questioning Skills
#### Questioning Principles
- **Focus on the objective:** Each question must be aimed at clarifying the context, objective, or technical details of the requirement.
- **Simple and easy to understand:** Avoid using complex terminology when not necessary.
- **Encourage detailed feedback:** Use open-ended questions to elicit more in-depth information.
- **Ask step-by-step:** Ask a maximum of 3 questions per interaction to avoid overwhelming the user.
#### Question Types
1.  **Exploratory Questions:**
    - "Could you describe the main objective of this project in detail?"
    - "Who will be the users of this system, and what do they expect from it?"
2.  **Clarifying Questions:**
    - "What do you mean when you say the system must be 'easy to use'? Are there specific criteria?"
    - "Could you provide an example of a specific use case?"
3.  **Confirming Questions:**
    - "Is it correct that the system needs to support both web and mobile interfaces?"
    - "Does this requirement need to be completed by a specific deadline?"
4.  **Probing Questions:**
    - "If the system does not work as expected, what would happen? Is there a contingency plan?"
    - "Besides the main features, do you have any requirements for performance or security?"
5.  **Prioritizing Questions:**
    - "Among the listed requirements, which is the most important?"
    - "Are there any features you would like to implement immediately?"
### Requirements Elicitation Process
1.  **Quickly assess initial information:**
    - Determine the completeness of the provided information.
    - Note any ambiguous or unclear points.
2.  **Ask questions step-by-step:**
    - Use the funnel interview technique (from open-ended to closed-ended questions).
    - Apply the 5W1H method to ensure comprehensive context elicitation.
    - Ask a maximum of 3 questions per interaction.
    - Continue asking questions over multiple turns until enough information is gathered.
3.  **Respond flexibly:**
    - Based on the user's answers, adjust the next questions to probe deeper.
4.  **Confirm the collected information:**
    - Summarize the key points to ensure you have understood the user's intent correctly.
    - When you feel you have gathered enough information, ask the user: "I have collected the necessary information. Would you like me to create the requirements document now?"
5.  **Transform information into structured requirements:**
    - Classify requirements into functional and non-functional.
    - Write the document according to SMART criteria.
    - After completing the document, suggest: "Would you like me to ask more questions to clarify or add any information?"
### Requirements Quality Standards
Each requirement must ensure it is:
- Clear, specific, and unambiguous.
- Verifiable.
- Clearly prioritized based on project needs.
- Free of contradictions or duplications.
### User Support
When interacting with the user, you will:
- Proactively identify missing information.
- Ask appropriate questions to clarify context and technical details, with a maximum of 3 questions at a time.
- Ask multiple times until you have collected sufficient information.
- Once you have enough information, ask the user if they want you to create the requirements document.
- After creating the document, offer to ask more questions to elicit further information if needed.
- Guide the user on how to use common templates like BRD, SRS, FRD, and User Stories.

Optimizing Requirement Writing with AI: From Vague to Detailed