Constructing user requirements: a social process for a social context

Abstract

We discuss our approach to constructing user requirements whereby users build requirements models themselves. The approach, termed user‐led requirements construction (ULRC), is a social process that addresses a major problem: the user‐developer culture gap. An important feature of the approach is that we have conducted, with users, an interpretivist empirical evaluation study of its constituent event flow diagram (EFD) modelling method and associated training. The ULRC has also been used in a live environment. The results are that users regard the EFD as effective for the requirements process, the EFD may be used for further studies to deepen our knowledge of the requirements process and the results contribute towards a set of public results for general evaluation and improvement.

Who are the users? Who are the developers? Webs of users and developers in the development process of a technical standard

“…The need for an improved understanding of users, user involvement (e.g. Olson & Ives, 1981; Cavaye, 1995; Flynn & Jazi, 1998; Howcroft & Wilson, 2003) and developer–user relations (e.g. Beath & Orlikowski, 1994; Jirotka & Goguen, 1994; Coughlan & Macredie, 2002; Gallivan & Keil, 2003) is well recognized in the field of information systems development where research on approaches and methodologies suited to effective user involvement is a priority (Avison & Fitzgerald, 2003).…”

Building knowledge in projects: A practical application of social constructivism to information systems development

“…We have standard documentation and modeling tools which make business requirements easy to understand [12,40,41,43] There is a strong tradition of close cooperation between information service providers and the business [35,2,18] We use a mixture of diagrams and words to convey information between stakeholders and information services staff [12,40,41,43] We simulate physical processes if necessary to get a better picture of the requirements [44] Stakeholders and information systems staff communicate through direct face-face contact [2,9,45] Information exchange is conducted with a consistent group of stakeholders from a single point of view [39] Our designers/analysts can present requirements specifications and clear solutions to the stakeholders for review [21] We use prototypes [45,31] It is easy to find someone who can give the right advice [2,11] The number of departments in the organization other than my own which need to work together to achieve my group's goals is small [52] Our office or working environment allows us to exchange information easily and directly [23,10] We have staff whose job it is to assist in knowledge sharing [6] Our technology infrastructure and software tools support our information sharing well [12] Tacit knowledge and routine skills comprises a small portion of the requirements to be computerized [44,45] There is regular sharing of ideas and improvements between departments within the organization [8] …”

Additional contributors

“…Increasingly resources are put into understanding user behaviour and requirements in relation to mobile wireless technologies. Furthermore, there is a growing awareness and recognition that the process of identifying user requirements is the most important phase within system development (Flynn and Jazi, 1998), and that the primary reason for systems to fail is the lack of poor and inadequate requirements (Ovaska et al, 2005;Sharp et al, 2007). Imaz (2006) adds that user requirements must be understood and data interpreted in such a way that all various competences involved in the development of the system, such as those who will interact with the system, those who will programme it, managers, customers, clients and other stakeholders will understand it.…”