Problem Statement
Explain the difference between requirements elicitation and requirements specification phases in software engineering, and why both are critical in the SDLC.
Explanation
Requirements elicitation is the process of discovering and gathering stakeholder needs, using interviews, workshops, observation, prototyping etc. Specification is the subsequent process of documenting those requirements into a coherent SRS document. /n/n Both are critical: without elicitation you may miss real user needs or misunderstand them; without specification you lack a stable, verifiable contract and baseline for design/testing. Skipping or doing either poorly leads to scope creep, rework and quality issues in later phases.