Software Requirements Elicitation Techniques

• Software Requirements and Specifications is the course name
• The instructor is Dr. Rasha Kashef, from the Dept. of Electrical, Computer Engineering, and Biomedical Engineering at Ryerson University

Last Week's Topics

• Requirements Inception
• Primary investigation procedure
• Requirements Elicitations
• Requirement Resources
• Stakeholder Analysis
• Elicitation Techniques

Week 4 Agenda

• Requirements Elicitation Techniques with focus on classical and modern techniques

Basic Elicitation Points

• Elicitation is not simply acquiring information
• Requirements are not readily available like sensor data; they need systematic understanding
• Elicitation is distinct from specification and modeling
• Requirements Engineering determines the success of the mission
• Elicitation determines success of the Requirements Engineering process

Requirements Elicitation Definition

• Acquiring all relevant knowledge to produce a requirements model of a problem domain
• Understanding a particular problem domain is crucial as an analyst, then formally stating the problem, then having the user validate the requirements

Process of User Requirements Elicitation

• Understanding the application domain
• Identifying the sources of requirements
• Analyzing the stakeholders
• Selecting the techniques and approaches to use
• Eliciting the requirements
• Classifying and organizing the requirements
• Negotiating the requirements
• Prioritizing the requirements
• Defining and documenting the requirements
• Validating the requirements

Elicitation Techniques

• It's difficult to determine which technique is universally suitable for all projects
• Not all techniques can be used for every project
• There isn't a single universally best methodology
• Methodologies might be combined in certain cases
• When selecting a method, consider factors like the project's nature, organizational structure, and type of stakeholders
• Widely used techniques include brainstorming, document analysis, interviews, prototyping, and workshops

Specific Elicitation Techniques

• Questionnaires are considered useful
• Interviewing is a useful elicitation techique
• Use cases and scenarios are applicable
• Analyzing existing systems helps to find new solutions
• Documentation Analysis can play a role
• Discourse analysis also applies
• Task observation is a key analysis technique
• Brainstorming for ideas
• Ethnography helps understand the users
• Joint Application Development (JAD)
• Prototyping
• Pilot system for early feedback
• Reverse Engineering is when you understand the existing solution

Classic Requirements Elicitation Techniques

• These techniques have historically been used for a long time
• They are tested and proven methods, like interviews and questionnaires
• Introspection is considered a classic technique
• Analyzing Existing Systems
• Document Analysis
• Observation and Social Analysis

Modern Requirements Elicitation Techniques

• Modern techniques involve scenarios
• Brainstorming which expands on ideas
• Prototyping
• Joint/Rapid Application Development
• Task Analysis
• Workshops
• Reverse Engineering
• Domain Analysis
• Goal modeling
• Etc.

Introspection Elicitation Technique

• Analyst imagines what kind of system is required based on what the users and stakeholders want and need
• Mainly used as a starting point for other requirements elicitation efforts

Advantages of Introspection

• Helps other elicitation techniques and is a good starting point
• There are almost no costs to this technique

Disadvantages of Introspection

• Can be very inaccurate
• Unlikely to reflect stakeholder’s goals
• Analyst should be familiar with the domain and goals of the system, and should be expert in the business processes of the users
• Requires a large amount of experience from the requirement analyst

Analysis of Existing Systems Elicitation Technique

• Useful when building a new improved version of an existing system
• Should know what is used, not used, or missing
• Should know what works well, and what does not work

Why Analysis of Existing Systems?

• Users tend to dislike a new system if it is too different or doesn't do what they want, creating nostalgia for the old system
• Can help to catch obvious possible improvements, like missing features
• Used to find out which "legacy" features can/cannot be left out

Document Analysis Elicitation Technique

• One of the most helpful elicitation techniques in understanding the current process
• User manuals, software vendor manuals, and process documents about the current system can be useful

Steps

• Evaluate whether the existing docs are appropriate to study
• Analysing the docs to identify business details
• Reviewing and confirming identified details with subject matter experts

Documents Analysis Details

• Start with reading available documentation like user guides, development documents, change histories, intermal memos etc
• Often the docs are out of date, incorrect etc, but still useful as a starting point
• Discourse Analysis is when word choice and spoken language is examined

Observation/Social Analysis Elicitation technique

• Also known as Observation
• Collecting requirements by observing the users while doing their normal work
• Generally used to determine additional requirements the user needs

Observations Elicitation Technique

• Can be supplemented later with questionnaires
• Based on what you know now from observation to answer questions
• Provides corroboration (confirmation)
• Can obtain statistics from a large number of users i.e. "how often do you use feature X?"
• Can be supplemented later with interviews
• Getting a better idea of what is to be done, results in more detailed answers
• Can find out what features they would use
• If done wrong can be a waste of time and labour intensive

Social Analysis Types

• Passive observations are carried out without direct involvement of the observer. Observations are recorded using cameras etc. The problems and requirements are then prepared from the recorded data
• Active observation is carried out with the direct involvement of the observer. People are provided a new product prototype or existing product to perform tasks. The observer provides domain knowledge to the user and reports on requirements

Social Analysis Types (continued)

• Explanatory Observations are carried out when the user explains what they are doing while using the product, the observer takes notes
• Ethnography involves the observer being completely immersed in the society. The observer thoroughly observers the users and their work. It is time consuming and expensive to gather the requirements

Ethnography Details

• Derived from anthropology, writing the culture
• People often find it hard to describe what they do because it is so natural to them
• Sometimes to understand, you need to observe
• Useful in understanding real wok processes from observation and work analysis
• Aims to describe those who are studied through writing
• Attempts to discover implicit and non obvious factors
• Seeks to explore the human factors and social organization of activities

Ethnography Additional details

• Discoveries are made by observation and analysis, workers are not asked to explain what they do
• Collect what is ordinary/what is it that people do (aim at making the implicit explicit)
• Study the context of work and watch work being done

Ethnography Examples

• Helpful to discover what a nuclear technician does during the day
• Helpful to discover what their workspace looks like

Ethnography Technique Benefits

• Especially useful when addressing contextual factors such as usability
• Applicable when investigating collaborative work settings where the understanding of interactions are paramount

Ethnography Uses

• Effective when the need for a new system is a result of existing problems with processes and procedures
• Useful in identifying social patterns and complex relationships between human stakeholders

Ethnography Example

• Sommerville et al. were involved in a project where they had to elicit the requirements of an air traffic control system
• Observed the air traffic controllers in action with the exisiting system
• Found the controllers often put aircrafts on potentially conflicting headings with the intention of fixing them later, and closed alarms because they where annoyed by alarm sounds
• The accurate observation was the controllers dont like being treated like idiots

Advantages of Ethnography

• Useful to collect quality attributes requirements like usability
• Effective when determining the social factors

Disadvantages of Ethnography

• Fails in many cases because there are so much diverse communities of people belonging to different social and ethical sects
• Is difficult to analyze the social requirements and hence the psychologists are required to provide their services

Task Analysis Elicitation Technique

• Employs a top-down approach where high-level tasks are decomposed into subtasks and eventually detailed sequences until all actions and events are described
• The primary objective is to construct a hierarchy of the tasks performed by the users and system
• Determines what knowledge is used or required to carry them out
• Provides information on the interactions of both the user and the system within the tasks
• Considerable effort is required and the level of detail is needed for the level of exploration

Advantages of Task Analysis

• Provides interaction of user and system
• Used by the project manager to mange user and system tasks

Disadvantages of Task Analysis

• Requires a lot of effort compared to interviewing
• Requires a lot of detail for the low-level tasks

Brainstorming Elicitation Technique

• Participants from different stakeholder groups engage in informal discussion to generate many ideas without focusing on any one in particular
• Not intended to explore or critique ideas in detail and used to resolve major issues
• Used to develop preliminary mission statement for the project and target system
• Advantage is promoting freethinking and allowing/discovery of new ideas

Brainstorming Facts

• To invent a new way of doing things or when there is little known
• When few or too many ideas, specifically early on in a project
• Useful where there is little expertise for the type of application or important innovation

Brainstorming Activities

• Storm: Generating as many ideas as possible (quantity, not quality)
• Calm: Filtering out of ideas to keep the best and may require voting

Brainstorming - Objectives

• Hear ideas from everyone, especially unconventional ideas
• Keep the tone informal and non-judgemental
• Keep the number of participants “reasonable“ – invite more creative people to future sessions
• Encourage creativity and choose good, provocative project name with a good problem statement
• Having a a room without distractions, but with good acoustics, whiteboards, coloured pens, provide coffee/donuts/pizza/beer

Advantages of Brainstorming

• Are mostly used for the innovative sort of projects where each participant provides his or her own ideas
• Make the key decisions about the requirements of the project
• Promotes free thinking and expression of ideas
• Provides the innovative ideas about the project to be developed

Joint Application Development (JAD) Details

• Developed at IBM in the 1970s
• A structured brainstorming IBM-style with lots of success stories
• An extended session to the workshop
• Stakeholders and project team work together to identify the requirements
• Sessions allow the business team together to gather and consolidate large amounts of information

Joint Application Development Details (cont)

• Identification of stakeholders is critical, including business process owners, client representatives or project managers, IT experts (developers, quality assurance)
• A more structured and intensive brainstorming approach
• Several activities and six (human) roles to be played
• JAD session may last few days

Joint Application Development (JAD) - Main Principles

• Group Session Dynamics is key
• Facilitated and directed group sessions for common/universal understanding and universal buy-in
• Enhancing understanding with visual aids, props, prepared digrams
• Defined process with standardized forms for document results

Joint Application Development (JAD) Purpose

• Used for consensus-based decision making across functional areas
• Planning a project
• Defining requirements
• Designing a solution

Joint Application Design – Activities

• Start with Preparation, then have a Working Session, then a Summary

Joint Application Design – Pre-session Planning

• Preparation is essential as is not informal
• Evaluate project to identify contentous scope items
• Select JAD participants and enable them to prepare
• Create prelimenary addenda
• Determine deliverables for the session

The 6 “P”s

• Purpose: Why do we do things? (Goals, needs, motivation)
• Participants: - Who is involved? (People, roles, responsibilities)
• Principles: - How do we function? (Guidelines, working agreements, ground rules)
• Products: - What do we create? (Deliverables, decisions, plans, next steps)
• Place: - Where is it located? (Venue, logistics)
• Process: - When do we do what? (Activities, sequence)

Joint Application Design – Pre-work

• Gather information and clear schedules
• Refine session agenda and finalize assignments
• Prepare materials i.e. pizza!

Joint Application Design - Working Session

• Set-up and start of Brainstorming to achieve consensus on decisions
• Generate ownership of results and create definable deliverables
• Identify open questions

Joint Application Development - Follow-up and Wrap-up

• Resolve open issues and Follow-up on items
• Re-evaluate results and the process
• Discuss lessons learned and finalize deliverables

Joint Application Development – Roles

• Session leader: Organizer, facilitator, JAD expert whom is good with people skills
• Analyst produces official JAD documents, and have experience developer level overview of the entire solution
• Executive sponsor provides insight into company’s goals and makes final decisions
• User representatives are knowledgeable end-users and managers with prepared ideas
• Information system representatives are technical experts
• Specialists have specific security knowledge

Advantages of JAD

• Provides the rapid decision making about the problem and also the solution of the problem
• Handles the requirements that can be rapidly changed
• Provides well formated structure with communication between stakeholers

Disadvantages of JAD

• Sometime the rapid solution it provides cant accurately validate
• The team must possess previous domain knowledge

Prototyping Elicitation Technique

• Screen mock-ups support the requirement gathering process by helping stakeholders visualize functionality

Software Requirements Prototype

• Can improve the developers, customers and users
• Clarifies requirements, response early, and addresses specific problems
• Prototyping is effective in uncertainty

Prototyping Facts

• Focus development on uncertain parts and encourage user participation

Prototyping – Realizations

• Take many forms depending on needs i.e. paper, screen
• Interactive prototypes use VB, Python and Flash

Prototyping – Types

• Horizontal: focus on one layer – e.g., user interface
• Vertical: a slice of the real system
• Evolutive: turned into a product incrementally (begins with requirements that are more understood)
• Throw-away: focusing on the less well-understood aspects of the system to design

Prototyping - Fidelity

• Extent to which the prototype is real

- High

• Button press leads to something
• Advantage is understanding and risk mitigation
• Disadvantage, time consuming and focuses of the less important issues

Prototyping - Fidelity (continued)

Low Fidelty

• Static and not operators
• Easy, quick and good with interfaces
• Does not cover all aspects of interfaces, and maybe non-professional

Prototyping - Risks and Problems

• Prototypes that focus on user-interface tends to lose the focus of demonstrating/exploring functionality
• Unrealistic expectations and do not end-up considering a throwaway prototype as part of the products

Problems with prototyping

• Training costs
• Extended development schedules
• Incompleteness may be a source

Workshops Elicitation Technique

• Comprise a group of users or stakeholders working together to identify requirements
• Structured way to capture requirements and scope

Reverse Engineering Elicitation Technique

• Elicitation technique is generally used in migration projects

Two Types

• Black box reverse engineering: The system is studied without examining its internal structure
• White box reverse engineering: The inner workings of the system are studied

Data Gathering techniques

• Questionnaires, Interviews, Focus Groups, and workshops are all valid methods for elicitation
• They allow one to understand the customer and the product