Requirements in the 21st Century: Current Practice and Emerging Trends

Abstract

Requirements have remained one of the grand challenges in the design of software intensive systems. In this paper we review the main strands of requirements research over the past two decades and identify persistent and new challenges. Based on a field study that involved interviews of over 30 leading IT professionals involved in large and complex software design and implementation initiatives we review the current state-ofthe-art in design requirements management. We observe significant progress in the deployment of modeling methods, tools, risk-driven design, and user involvement. We note nine emerging themes and challenges in the requirement management arena: 1) business process focus, 2) systems transparency, 3) integration focus, 4) distributed requirements, 5) layered requirements, 6) criticality of information architectures, 7) increased deployment of COTS and software components, 8) design fluidity and 9) interdependent complexity. Several research challenges and new avenues for research are noted in the discovery, specification, and validation of requirements in light of these requirements features.

Beyond the organizational ‘container’: Conceptualizing 21st century sociotechnical work

“…Concern with user satisfaction (Gelderman, 1998), and user participation (Floyd et al, 1989) highlights the need to consider human goals and purposes when creating work systems. Attention to requirements elicitation (Hansen, Berente, & Lyytinen, 2009), project governance (Tiwana, 2009), and top management support (Thong, Yap, & Raman, 1996) reflect an awareness that fit with organizational goals emerges as effect systems develop. Although IS research has considered cases that involve multiple goals and stakeholders, those of the focal organization are often assumed to dominate.…”

The socio-economics of software architecture

“…This paper has focused on software architecture; however, conceptual architectures may also be manifest as organisation in business or enterprise systems architecture (Hansen et al 2007). Some convergence has been made in modelling enterprise architecture in the e3value method (Gordijn et al 2006) which describes components for valued-added services, although the connection of e3value analysis in enterprise architecture to software systems is via heuristic methods for discovering the software support implications of enterprise designs.…”

Requirements engineering based on knowledge: a comparative case study of the KMoS-RE strategy and the DMS process

“…Requirements Engineering (RE) arises as a discipline with the aim of eliciting, analyzing, evaluating, consolidating and managing the requirements of a product or solution [2]. However, there are a great number of serious and inherent diffi culties in the process of discovering the correct and appropriate requirements because of the complexity of the requirement task, the intricate interaction between designers and the intended users, and the limits of human information processing [3].…”