Name the person and the job

“We need an app” is difficult to act on. “Our operations team needs to approve supplier requests without chasing email” gives the work somewhere useful to start.

Bring the awkward examples

The unusual cases, manual workarounds and messy spreadsheets often explain the real requirement better than a polished feature list.

Plan the smallest useful release

The first version should solve one complete job. It does not need to solve every future problem on the first day.