Remote Requirements Elicitation: Considerations for Developers Gathered From Practice Studies and Existing Literature
Authors
Precht, Jakob ; Laursen, Mai-Britt Lerche ; Holm, Liv
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2023
Submitted on
2023-06-09
Pages
60
Abstract
This thesis examines remote requirements elicitation - the process of discovering and documenting what a software system should do when stakeholders work from different locations and collaborate online. The work consists of three studies: a literature review, a case study, and an experiment. The literature review mapped what previous research has focused on and how it was conducted. It identified three recurring themes (successes and challenges, forms of communication, and techniques) and five common study types (literature reviews, surveys, case studies, experiments, and the definition of a model or tool). The case study explored how established elicitation techniques can be adapted to remote settings. Four techniques were examined: interviews; prototyping (building simple mock-ups); think-aloud (participants verbalize their thoughts while completing tasks); and scenarios (short narratives of use situations). The study found five areas of success and six areas of challenge when these techniques are used remotely. The experiment compared how different visual materials and communication channels affect the writing of user stories (short descriptions of desired features from a user’s perspective) in remote collaboration. Visual materials were video, photos, or none. Communication channels were online meetings and instant messaging. Results showed that combining video with an online meeting produced higher-quality user stories and led to more communication. Together, the three studies offer practical considerations for developers about when and how to use remote requirements elicitation, and what factors are likely to help or hinder outcomes.
Dette speciale undersøger fjern kravindsamling - processen med at afdække og dokumentere, hvad et softwaresystem skal kunne, når interessenter arbejder forskellige steder fra og samarbejder online. Arbejdet består af tre studier: et litteraturreview, et casestudie og et eksperiment. Litteraturreviewet kortlagde, hvad tidligere forskning har fokuseret på, og hvordan den er gennemført. Det identificerede tre gennemgående temaer (succeser og udfordringer, kommunikationsformer og teknikker) og fem typiske studietyper (litteraturreviews, surveys, casestudier, eksperimenter samt definition af en model eller et værktøj). Casestudiet undersøgte, hvordan etablerede kravindsamlingsteknikker kan tilpasses til fjernkontekster. Fire teknikker blev afprøvet: interviews; prototyping (at bygge enkle mockups); tænk-højt-metoden (deltagere siger deres tanker højt, mens de løser opgaver); og scenarier (korte fortællinger om brugssituationer). Studiet fandt fem områder med succes og seks områder med udfordringer ved brugen af disse teknikker på afstand. Eksperimentet sammenlignede, hvordan forskellige visuelle materialer og kommunikationskanaler påvirker arbejdet med at skrive user stories (korte beskrivelser af ønskede funktioner fra brugerens perspektiv) i fjernsamarbejde. De visuelle materialer var video, fotos eller ingen. Kommunikationskanalerne var onlinemøder og instant messaging (chat). Resultaterne viste, at kombinationen af video og onlinemøde gav user stories af højere kvalitet og øgede kommunikationen. Samlet giver de tre studier praktiske overvejelser til udviklere om, hvornår og hvordan fjern kravindsamling kan bruges, samt hvilke forhold der kan fremme eller hæmme resultaterne.
[This apstract has been rewritten with the help of AI based on the project's original abstract]
Keywords