Describe your project and Makeform creates a focused requirements gathering form for goals, users, scope, workflows, constraints, deadlines, files, and decision-makers.
Send briefs to Slack, Google Sheets, and Zapier.
Sample prompts for the builder
Choose a starting point, revise the prompt, or send it to the Makeform builder. Examples show structure, not completed submissions.
Audience
Agency clients planning a new marketing website
Format
Conditional brief for content and integrations
Prompt size
324 chars
Example form structure
Conditional brief for content and integrations
What business outcome should the redesign support?
Who are the primary website audiences?
Which pages and user actions are essential?
Which systems must the website connect to?
Target launch date and budget range
Suggested routing tags
Ready for discovery
Needs clarification
Technical review
Ask stakeholders to separate must-have outcomes from preferred features to clarify scope decisions.
Step 1
Context
problem, users, and current process
Step 2
Scope
outcomes, deliverables, and exclusions
Step 3
Constraints
systems, budget, dates, and dependencies
Step 4
Alignment
owners, approvals, and open questions
Why structured discovery matters
Ask every stakeholder for decision-ready details, then use meetings to resolve tradeoffs.
Separate required outcomes, optional ideas, and exclusions so a wish list does not become the baseline scope.
Ask who performs each step, what triggers it, which data moves, and what happens when it fails.
Capture the sponsor, working contact, experts, technical reviewer, and final approver.
Built around the engagement
Choose a project shape, then edit its language, choices, and branching.
Audiences, sitemap, content, assets, integrations, launch dates, and examples.
User problems, behavior, edge cases, permissions, dependencies, and acceptance.
Current state, outcomes, stakeholders, evidence, risks, and decisions.
Triggers, steps, exceptions, systems, mappings, volumes, and testing.
Requirements workflow
Generate the intake, collect responses before discovery, and route the brief to estimators and approvers.
Tell Makeform what is being built, who must answer, and what your team needs before estimating.
Require essentials and reveal specialist questions only when relevant, such as ecommerce fields after online sales is selected.
Share one link and request screenshots, sample files, diagrams, assets, or documents with written answers.
Send responses to the project channel, flag contradictions and gaps, then confirm assumptions during discovery.
Form vs email vs meeting notes
A structured intake creates a baseline and preserves the original request as decisions change.
Field guide
Follow the logic of discovery: why the work matters, who it serves, what must happen, and who resolves uncertainty.
Purpose & outcomes
A deliverable is not a business outcome. Ask what prompted the work, what is difficult today, and what result would make it worthwhile.
Users & stakeholders
Capture end users separately from sponsors and reviewers, including who supplies content, access, feedback, and approval.
Scope & priorities
Classify requirements instead of using one text box. Must-have, preferred, later-phase, and out-of-scope labels expose tradeoffs.
Workflows & rules
For each workflow, ask who starts it, what enters, which decisions occur, what output is expected, and how exceptions work.
Systems & constraints
Integrations, data access, accessibility, review, content readiness, and vendors can reshape delivery. Ask for owners and examples.
Delivery & acceptance
Record dates, budgets, milestones, dependencies, acceptance examples, review windows, and the person authorized to approve delivery.
Related tools
Pair requirements discovery with intake, onboarding, change control, and specialized briefs.
Collect client contacts, background, and fit before project discovery.
Open toolGather goals, pages, content, features, assets, and launch expectations for a web build.
Open toolCapture campaign goals, audience, message, deliverables, and reviews.
Open toolDocument requested scope changes, rationale, affected deliverables, timing, and approval after work begins.
Open toolCollect access, contacts, communication preferences, and kickoff details once the project is approved.
Open toolFAQ
Practical answers for consultants, developers, and agencies preparing for project discovery.
A requirements gathering form is a project discovery questionnaire. It captures the problem, outcome, users, scope, workflows, constraints, dependencies, timeline, budget context, and decision-makers in one brief.
Ask why the project is needed, who it serves, what users must do, required deliverables, exclusions, systems, data, constraints, approvers, and acceptance criteria. Use branching instead of showing everyone every technical question.
Usually, yes. Give the client time to consult colleagues and find files. Review responses, identify gaps or conflicts, and use the call for clarification, priorities, and tradeoffs.
Require only information needed for the next decision. Use short sections, clear choices, and conditional logic so specialist questions appear only when relevant. Move deeper context to uploads or follow-up.
Yes. Share one form with sponsors, users, and experts, then compare responses. Require each person's name and role so needs remain traceable. The project owner should resolve priorities and approve the baseline.
Yes. Add file uploads for process maps, screenshots, assets, sample exports, or reference documents. Label the evidence needed and include a context field explaining what each file shows.
Yes. Makeform provides unlimited free forms and responses, so you can generate, edit, publish, and reuse project intake forms without a response cap. The paid tier removes the Makeform badge.
No. It creates a starting point and records the initial request. The team should still validate assumptions, resolve conflicts, assess feasibility, prioritize needs, and confirm scope and acceptance with stakeholders.
Start discovery with the right questions already asked.
