Towards Enhanced Automated Support for Collaborative Software Requirements Management

The development of information systems is not merely a difficult technological challenge, but is also a complex social process within which the effectiveness of communication between stakeholders is vital to a successful outcome. In particular, the communication of software requirements is extremely problematic. This paper is founded on the proposition that, because the System Requirements Specification (SRS) is a highly dynamic document that grows and evolves throughout an IS development project, and is of interest in a variety of ways to a multi-disciplinary and potentially distributed team of stakeholders, its management ought to be a collaborative process supported by an automated tool. Furthermore, such a tool must anticipate and consider communication issues that arise within multi-disciplinary teams. We argue that most commercial requirements management tools presently available do not provide adequate support for communication and collaboration within multi-disciplinary teams. In view of the shortcomings of commercial tools, we present a series of recommendations that aim to guide tool developers towards the provision of enhanced automated support for collaborative software requirements management.

[1]  Zeljko Hutinski,et al.  Communication In Complex Information System Development Projects , 2001 .

[2]  Karen Holtzblatt,et al.  Making customer-centered design work for teams , 1993, CACM.

[3]  Ruth A. Palmquist.  The Search for an Internet Metaphor: A Comparison of Literatures. , 1996 .

[4]  Claudio U. Ciborra,et al.  A theory of information systems based on improvisation , 1999 .

[5]  Stuart R. Faulk,et al.  Software Requirements: A Tutorial, , 1995 .

[6]  Erran Carmel,et al.  Customer-developer links in software development , 1995, CACM.

[7]  Grady Booch.  Coming of age in an object-oriented world , 1994, IEEE Software.

[8]  Bill Curtis,et al.  A field study of the software design process for large systems , 1988, CACM.

[9]  Andrew P. Gabb,et al.  Requirements Management Tools Evaluation User Needs and Evaluation Criteria , 1997 .

[10]  Erik Stolterman,et al.  How System Designers Think about Design and Methods: Some Reflections Based on an Interview Study , 1992, Scand. J. Inf. Syst..

[11]  Alan M. Davis,et al.  Identifying and measuring quality in a software requirements specification , 1993, [1993] Proceedings First International Software Metrics Symposium.

[12]  Alan M. Davis,et al.  A comparison of techniques for the specification of external system behavior , 1988, CACM.

[13]  Douglas Schuler,et al.  Participatory Design: Principles and Practices , 1993 .

[14]  Ronald M. Baecker,et al.  Readings in Groupware and Computer-Supported Cooperative Work: Assisting Human-Human Collaboration , 1992 .

[15]  Jeffrey O. Grady.  AN OPEN LETTER TO THE TOOL COMPANIES , 1996 .

[16]  Kaj Grønbæk,et al.  Cooperative design: techniques and experiences from the Scandinavian scene , 1995 .

[17]  Kalle Lyytinen,et al.  The Brave New World of development in the internetwork computing architecture (InterNCA): or how distributed computing platforms will change systems development , 1998, Inf. Syst. J..

[18]  Joyce J. Elam,et al.  Inside a software design team: knowledge acquisition, sharing, and integration , 1993, CACM.

[19]  Karen Holtzblatt,et al.  Requirements gathering: the human factor , 1995, CACM.

[20]  C. E. SHANNON,et al.  A mathematical theory of communication , 1948, MOCO.

[21]  George R. Rodman,et al.  Understanding Human Communication , 1982 .

[22]  Håkan Enquist,et al.  Understanding misunderstandings [in complex information systems development] , 1998, Proceedings of the Thirty-First Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[23]  Jonathan Grudin,et al.  Obstacles to participatory design in large product development organizations , 1990 .

[24]  L. Suchman.  Plans and situated actions , 1987 .

[25]  James A. Landay,et al.  Sketching Interfaces: Toward More Human Interface Design , 2001, Computer.

[26]  Steve Easterbrook,et al.  Communication Problems in Requirements Engineering: A Field Study , 1996 .

[27]  Jim Duggan,et al.  A Tool to Support Collaborative Software Requirements Management , 2001, Requirements Engineering.

[28]  Michael Lang,et al.  A Survey of Multimedia and Web Development Techniques and Methodology Usage , 2001, IEEE Multim..

[29]  Brian Fitzgerald,et al.  Systems development methodologies: the problem of tenses , 2000, Inf. Technol. People.

[30]  Brian R. Webb,et al.  Competing Paradigms in Multimedia Systems Development: Who Shall Be the Aristocracy? , 1997, ECIS.

[31]  David G. Novick,et al.  Participatory conversation in PD , 1993, CACM.