Abstract
This paper describes a research project and the findings from a set of six cases which examine professional requirements engineering (RE) practice from the perspective of how analysts reach agreement on system requirements for information systems development (ISD). In these studies, it was found that the analysts reached agreement on requirements with clients through communication and negotiation based on both analysts’ cognitive skills in problem-solving and creative skills in developing informal models that could be used in the negotiation of agreement and sign-off on requirements specifications. A theoretical model of social-creative-cognitive (SCC) aspects of requirements engineering is proposed encompassing the empirical findings.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Avison D, Fitzgerald G (2003) Information systems development: methodologies, techniques and tools, 3rd edn. McGraw-Hill, Maidenhead
Bacharach S (1988) Organizational theories: some criteria for evaluation. Acad Manag Rev 14(4):496–515
Brown RBK, Piper IC (2011) What users do: SA&D with the ATSA method. Paper presented at the 20th international conference on information systems development (ISD2011), Edinburgh, UK
Carbone A, Lynch K, Arnott D, Jamieson P (2000) Adopting a studio-based education approach into information technology. Paper presented at the 4th Australasian computing education conference (ACE2000), Melbourne
Checkland P, Scholes J (1990) Soft systems methodology in practice. Wiley, Chichester
Conboy K (2010) Project failure en masse: a study of loose budgetary control in ISD projects. Eur J Inform Syst 19(3):273–287
Coughlan J, Macredie RD (2002) Effective communication in requirements elicitation: a comparison of methodologies. Requirements Eng 7(2):47–60
Darke P, Shanks G (1996) Stakeholder viewpoints in requirements definition: a framework for understanding viewpoint development approaches. Requirements Eng 1:88–105
Dawson L (2008) Active exploration of emerging themes in a study of object-oriented requirements engineering: the “Evolutionary Case” approach. Electron J Bus Res Meth 6(1):29–42
Dawson L (2011) Cognitive processes in object-oriented requirements engineering practice: analogical reasoning and mental modelling. Paper presented at the 20th international conference on information systems development (ISD2011), Edinburgh, UK
Dawson L, Darke P (2002) The adoption and adaptation of object-oriented methodologies in requirements engineering practice. Paper presented at the 10th European conference on information systems, Gdansk, Poland
Dawson L, Swatman P (1999) The use of object-oriented models in requirements engineering: a field study. Paper presented at the 20th international conference on information systems, Charlotte, NC
Dubin R (1976) Theory building in applied areas. In: Dunnette M (ed) Handbook of industrial and organisational psychology. Rand McNally College Publications, Chicago, IL, pp 17–39
Eisenhardt KM (1989) Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management eview 14(4):532–550
Fitzgerald B (1997) The use of systems development methodologies in practice: a field study. Inform Syst J 7:201–212
Flynn DJ, Warhurst R (1994) An empirical study of the validation process within requirements determination. Inform Syst J 4:185–212
Galal G, McDonnell JT (1998) A qualitative view of requirements engineering. Paper presented at the 3rd Australian conference on requirements engineering, Geelong, Australia
Goguen JA (1994) Requirements engineering as the reconciliation of social and technical issues. In: Jirotka M, Goguen JA (eds) Requirements engineering: social and technical issues. Academic, London
Jackson P, Klobas J (2008) Building knowledge in projects: a practical application of social constructivism to information systems development. Int J Proj Manag 26(4):329–337
Kavakli E (2002) Goal-oriented requirements engineering: a unifying framework. Requirements Eng 6(4):237–251
Keen CD, Lockwood C, Lamp J (1998) A client-focused, team-of-teams approach to software development projects. Paper presented at the software engineering: education and practice, Dunedin, New Zealand
Khushalani A, Smith R, Howard S (1994) What happens when designers don't play by the rules: towards a model of opportunistic behaviour and design. Aust J Inform Syst 1(2):2–31
Lamp J, Lockwood C (2000) Creating realistic experience of an IS project: the team of teams approach. Paper presented at the 2000 IRMA international conference, Alaska
Loucopoulos P, Karakostas V (1995) Systems requirements engineering. McGraw-Hill, London
Lyytinen K, Robey D (1999) Learning failure in information systems development. Inform Syst J 9(2):85–101
Macaulay L (1996) Requirements engineering. Springer, London
Machado R, Borges M, Gomes J (2008) Supporting the system requirements elicitation through collaborative observations. In: Briggs R, Antunes P, de Vreede G-J, Read A (eds) Groupware: design, implementation and use, vol 5411. Springer, Berlin, pp 364–379
Mathiassen L, Purao S (2002) Educating reflective systems developers. Inform Syst J 12(2):81–102
Mayer RE (1992) Thinking, problem solving, cognition, 2nd edn. W.H. Freeman and Company, New York
Miles MB, Huberman AM (1994) Qualitative data analysis: an expanded sourcebook, 2nd edn. Sage Publications Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA
Nuseibeh B, Kramer J, Finkelstein A (1994) A framework for expressing the relationships between multiple views in requirements specification. IEEE Trans Software Eng 20:760–771
Pohl K (1994) The three dimensions of requirements engineering: a framework and its applications. Inform Syst 19(3):243–258
Robertson J, Robertson S (1997) Volere requirements specification template, 4th edn. Atlantic Systems Guild, London
Robertson J, Robertson S (2010) Volere product summary. http://www.volere.co.uk/index.htm. Accessed 6 Jul 2012
Schön DA (1983) The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action. Basic Books, New York
Siau K, Rossi M (2011) Evaluation techniques for systems analysis and design modelling methods—a review and comparative analysis. Inform Syst J 21(3):249–268
Siau K, Wang Y (2007) Cognitive evaluation of information modeling methods. Inform Software Technol 49(5):455–474
Sommerville I, Sawyer P (1997) Requirements engineering: a good practice guide. Wiley, Chichester
Sutcliffe AG, Maiden NAM (1992) Analysing the novice analyst: cognitive models in software engineering. Int J Man Mach Stud 36:719–740
Teles VM, de Oliveira CET (2003) Reviewing the curriculum of software engineering undergraduate courses to incorporate communication and interpersonal skills teaching. Paper presented at the software engineering education and training, 2003 (CSEE&T 2003). Proceedings of 16th conference on 20–22 Mar 2003
Urquhart C (1998) Analysts and clients in conversation: cases in early requirements gathering. Paper presented at the 19th international conference on information systems, Helsinki, Finland
Wastell DG (1999) Learning dysfunctions in information systems development: overcoming the social defenses with transitional objects. MIS Quart 23(4):581–600
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this paper
Cite this paper
Dawson, L. (2013). A Social-Creative-Cognitive (SCC) Model for Requirements Engineering. In: Linger, H., Fisher, J., Barnden, A., Barry, C., Lang, M., Schneider, C. (eds) Building Sustainable Information Systems. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7540-8_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7540-8_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-7539-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7540-8
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)