Clients may ask whether they should send out questionnaires to their staff to help you gather requirements. This is a rather passive technique which rarely works well, as forms sent out to non-stakeholders dilute the response, and pre-printed questions often fail to find out what people really need. If you already knew what the problem was, why would you be asking users at all? To succeed, requirements gathering has to be much more interactive, and must focus on people’s need. This means meeting people and encouraging them to speak: no questionnaire can do that.