Research in Requirements Engineering:

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Research in Requirements Engineering Some
Lessons from other Disciplines Alistair
Sutcliffe Centre for HCI Design, School of
Informatics University of Manchester P.O.Box 88,
Manchester, M60 1QD, UK a.g.sutcliffe_at_co.umist.
ac.uk CERE workshop RE 04 Kyoto
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Comparative Framework
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What can RE learn from..

• HCI- human computer interaction- shares many
  concerns with RE
• - analysis of peoples needs
• - specifying systems for people
• Information systems- concerned with design and
  management of systems and
• - development methods for IS including
  requirements
• - fit of technology into business, support for
  work practices
• Compare state of the art in
• - theory and principles
• - design engineering practice
• - investigation and analysis in the real world

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HCI contributions
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Information Systems
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Requirements Engineering
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The System Design Spacemethods and measures
Social norms attitudes group composition
coherence Personality motivation experience abilit
y knowledge beliefs Design qualities utility perfo
rmance effectiveness
Society culture
observation ethnography case studies action
research interviews surveys questionnaires documen
tation analysis memory tests contextual
evaluation operational evaluation performance
testing controlled experiments
Technology and user
Organisational setting
Work setting
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Some Comparisons

• RE is light on theory,
• - HCI more eclectic but hasnt solved the theory
  to design problem
• - IS interested in developing explanatory and
  weakly predictive theories
• RE could do better on methods
• - HCIs track record is not great, except light
  weight methods
• - IS has development methods but mainly in
  industry- RUP etc
• RE is best on tools- HCI and IS could learn from
  RE
• RE pays little attention to studies in the real
  world

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How could RE improve ?

• Be eclectic in using theory to help RE process
  and modelling, learn from cognitive (HCI) and
  social science theory (IS)
• Pay more attention to studying the real world
• - as it is Requirements problems
• - how RE processes/ products improve it
• - use methods from IS HCI
• Examine its scope- people, systems requirements,
  large scale complex systems
• Integrate more with HCI, IS and Software
  Engineering Science of Design