Technical Requirements Interview

Technical Requirements Interview

This skill guides you through a structured interview to derive technical requirements from business requirements.

Prerequisites

• Completed {base_directory}/requirements/business-requirements.yaml file
• Clear understanding of the problem domain

Interview Process

Rules

1. One question at a time - Never ask multiple questions in a single turn
2. Business context first - Load and understand business requirements before asking technical questions
3. Provide options - Each question includes 2-5 recommended options plus free-form input
4. Track progress - All Q&A pairs are immediately appended to {base_directory}/artifacts/technical-interview.jsonl
5. Resume capability - If JSONL exists, continue from last question
6. Structured output - Generate technical-requirements.yaml in {base_directory}/requirements/ upon completion

Interview Categories

The interview covers these areas in order:

1. Architecture & Patterns

   • Overall architecture style
   • Application structure
   • Component organization

2. Technology Stack

   • Programming language
   • Frameworks and libraries
   • Package management

3. Data Model & Storage

   • Data persistence strategy
   • Database selection
   • Schema design approach

4. API Design

   • API style (REST, GraphQL, RPC)
   • API framework
   • Versioning strategy

5. Security & Authentication

   • Authentication method
   • Authorization approach
   • Secrets management

6. Testing Strategy

   • Testing approach (TDD, BDD, etc.)
   • Test types (unit, integration, e2e)
   • Testing frameworks

7. Development & Tooling

   • Development workflow
   • Code quality tools
   • CI/CD approach

8. Deployment & Distribution

   • Deployment target
   • Packaging strategy
   • Release process

Question Format

Each question follows this structure:

## [Category Name]

**Question:** [Clear, specific question]

**Options:**
1. [Option 1] (Recommended) - [Brief description and rationale]
2. [Option 2] - [Brief description]
3. [Option 3] - [Brief description]
4. Type your own answer

Example Questions

Architecture

## Architecture & Patterns

**Question:** What architecture pattern best fits this project?

**Options:**
1. Monolithic application (Recommended) - Single deployable unit, simpler to develop and deploy initially
2. Microservices - Multiple independent services, better scaling but higher complexity
3. Serverless functions - Event-driven, scales automatically, but vendor lock-in
4. Plugin-based - Core engine with extensible plugins for flexibility
5. Type your own answer

Technology Stack

## Technology Stack

**Question:** Which programming language should be used?

**Options:**
1. TypeScript (Recommended) - Type-safe JavaScript, excellent tooling, large ecosystem
2. Python - Readable, extensive libraries, good for data processing and scripting
3. Go - Fast compilation, excellent concurrency, simple deployment
4. Rust - Memory safety without garbage collection, high performance
5. Type your own answer

Data Storage

## Data Model & Storage

**Question:** What data persistence strategy is appropriate?

**Options:**
1. File-based storage (Recommended) - Simple, portable, no database dependency
2. SQLite - Embedded relational database, good for local tools
3. PostgreSQL - Full-featured relational database, better for complex queries
4. NoSQL (MongoDB, etc.) - Flexible schema, good for document-based data
5. In-memory only - Fast but no persistence, suitable for ephemeral data
6. Type your own answer

JSONL Format

Track all questions and answers in {base_directory}/artifacts/technical-interview.jsonl.

See references/interview-jsonl-spec.md for the complete JSONL schema with field definitions and examples.

Output Format

Generate {base_directory}/requirements/technical-requirements.yaml upon interview completion.

Create directory if it doesn't exist:

mkdir -p {base_directory}/requirements
mkdir -p {base_directory}/artifacts

The output document includes these top-level sections: project, version, generated, business_requirements_ref, architecture, technology_stack, project_structure, data_model, api, security, testing, development, ci_cd, deployment, monitoring, performance, scalability, constraints, trade_offs, and open_questions.

See references/output-spec.md for the complete document specification with all fields, types, and validation rules.

See references/example.yaml for a full example.

Usage

To start a new technical interview:

/technical-requirements-interview [base-directory]

If no directory is provided, auto-detect by looking for requirements/business-requirements.yaml in the current directory.

If not found, prompt the user: "Where are your requirements documents located?"

Wait for the user to provide a path before proceeding. Store as base_directory.

The skill will automatically:

1. Load business requirements from {base_directory}/requirements/business-requirements.yaml as context
2. Check for existing {base_directory}/artifacts/technical-interview.jsonl
3. Resume from last question if found
4. Ask targeted technical questions
5. Generate technical-requirements.yaml in {base_directory}/requirements/ when complete
6. Save interview transcript to {base_directory}/artifacts/technical-interview.jsonl

Decision Tracking

Each technical decision should include:

1. Decision - What was decided
2. Rationale - Why this approach
3. Alternatives considered - What else was evaluated
4. Trade-offs - What was gained/lost
5. Reversibility - How hard to change later

Best Practices

1. Align with business needs - Every technical choice should support business requirements
2. Consider constraints - Respect timeline, budget, and skill constraints
3. Start simple - Choose simpler solutions over complex ones when possible
4. Plan for change - Make reversible decisions where possible
5. Document rationale - Future you will thank present you

Review & Gap Analysis

After generating technical-requirements.yaml, automatically perform a gap analysis:

Alignment Check

Business Alignment:

• Architecture supports all functional requirements
• Technology choices align with business constraints
• Timeline is realistic for technical scope
• Budget constraints respected in tool/service choices

Completeness Check:

Architecture:

• Architecture pattern is clearly defined
• Components and responsibilities documented
• Data flow is clear
• Integration points identified

Technology Stack:

• Language and runtime specified
• Frameworks and libraries listed
• Versions specified where critical
• Alternatives considered and documented

Data Model:

• Storage strategy defined
• Schema approach documented
• Migration strategy if using database
• Data validation approach specified

API:

• API style chosen (REST/GraphQL/RPC)
• Framework selected
• Versioning strategy defined
• Documentation approach specified

Security:

• Authentication method defined
• Authorization model specified
• Secrets management approach
• Input/output validation strategy

Testing:

• Testing strategy defined (TDD/BDD/etc)
• Test types specified (unit/integration/e2e)
• Frameworks selected
• Coverage targets set

Deployment:

• Deployment target identified
• Packaging format chosen
• CI/CD approach defined
• Release process documented

Consistency Check

• No contradictions between technical decisions
• Technology choices compatible with each other
• Performance targets achievable with chosen stack
• Security approach matches data sensitivity

Trade-off Analysis

Review documented trade-offs:

• Each trade-off has clear rationale
• Alternatives were seriously considered
• Consequences understood and acceptable
• Reversibility assessed

Gap Identification

Common Gaps to Check:

• Missing error handling strategy
• Undocumented edge cases
• Unaddressed scalability concerns
• Missing monitoring/observability plan
• Unclear data migration path
• Missing security threat model
• Undocumented performance budgets
• Missing disaster recovery plan
• Unclear dependency versioning strategy
• Missing code quality tooling

Open Questions Review

Check if open questions are:

• Clearly stated
• Have identified options
• Impact is understood
• Decision timeline defined

Review Output

Generate a gap analysis report with:

gap_analysis:
  business_alignment_score: [1-10]
  completeness_score: [1-10]
  consistency_score: [1-10]

  gaps_found:
    - category: [category]
      issue: [description]
      severity: [high/medium/low]
      recommendation: [how to address]
      business_impact: [what business requirement this affects]

  strong_areas:
    - [what's well-defined]

  trade_offs_review:
    - decision: [decision]
      assessment: [well-reasoned/needs-review/concerning]
      notes: [additional context]

  open_questions_assessment:
    - question: [question]
      blocking: [yes/no]
      recommendation: [resolve now/later/accept uncertainty]

  suggestions:
    - [improvement suggestions]

  ready_for_implementation: [yes/no/with-modifications]

If critical gaps found (severity: high or blocking open questions), ask:

"I've identified some gaps in the technical requirements that could impact implementation. Would you like to:

1. Address them now (I'll ask follow-up questions)
2. Proceed to implementation planning (address during development)
3. Review the gaps and decide"

Next Steps

After completing the technical requirements interview and gap analysis:

1. Review gap analysis report
2. Address any critical gaps or blocking questions
3. Validate technical choices are realistic
4. Use /implementation-planner to generate implementation plans

Examples

See references/example.yaml for a complete sample output.