1 Team Skill 2 - Understanding User and Stakeholder Needs (Chapters 8-13 of the requirements text) CSSE 371, Software Requirements and Specification Don Bagert, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology September 13, 2005 Thanks to Mark Ardis and Steve Chenoweth for some of the slides included.

2 Outline Background  Barriers to Elicitation  Features Techniques  Interviewing  Requirements Workshops and Brainstorming  Storyboarding

3 Barriers to Elicitation

4 Three Common Barriers Each described in the text as a syndrome “Yes, But…” Syndrome Undiscovered Ruins Syndrome User and Developer Syndrome

5 Features

6 Needs vs. Features Each stakeholder will have needs that will hopefully be addressed by the new system  Example: “I want to be able to advise my students more effectively.” A feature is a service that the system provides to fulfill one or more stakeholder needs.  Example: “This tool will allow the advisor to see the critical path in an advisee’s coursework.” Look for needs that suggest features

7 Interviewing

8 Where Should You Hold an Interview? Non-threatening environment  Customer's turf  Room large enough for group Free from distractions

9 Interview Preparation Do some research Prepare questions Prepare agenda Select roles:  Leader  Note taker  Questioners

10 Interview Phases 1. Establish user profile 2. Assess the problem 3. Understand the environment 4. Recap for understanding 5. Analyst's inputs 6. Assess solution 7. Assess opportunity 8. Assess reliability, performance 9. Other requirements 10. Wrap-up

11 Why Not A Questionnaire Instead?... …After all, they can be done so much more efficiently! Advantages of interviews:  Personal Contact  Interaction/Follow-ups

12 Requirements Workshops and Brainstorming

13 Benefits of Requirements Workshop All stakeholders get their say May expose political issues Helps form effective team (developers and stakeholders)

14 Workshop Facilitator Establish proper tone Introduce goals and agenda Keep team on track Facilitate decision making Make sure all voices are heard

15 Sample One-Day Agenda Introduction 0.5 hours Context1.5 hours Brainstorming2.0 hours Lunch1.0 hours Brainstorming1.0 hours Feature definition1.0 hours Idea reduction1.0 hours Wrap-up 1.0 hours

16 Brainstorming Benefits  Encourages participation by all  Allows participants to build on one another's ideas  High bandwidth: many ideas in short period of time  Encourages out-of-the-box thinking

17 One Brainstorming Method Write down ideas on post-it notes, put on wall Read ideas out loud No criticizing!

18 A Similar Method Use an easel or whiteboard Ask for ideas and write them down as they are said aloud Once again - no criticizing!

19 Idea Reduction Classify the ideas into groups Vote on the ideas (i.e. rank them) Choose what ideas will go forward post- workshop Prioritize the ideas

20 Storyboarding

21 Key Points Purpose – Elicit “Yes, But” reactions Passive, active, & interactive Identify players, explain what happens & how Storyboards should be sketchy A place to add innovative content Above, right – “At the forefront of innovative content, interactivity is valuable only if it is user-friendly.” From mediadigest/md0001/04.htmlwww.rthk.org.hk/ mediadigest/md0001/04.html

22 Get the idea from some Storyboard Examples More movies --This one’s from Blade Runner In the movie industry, storyboarders don’t think they get enough credit – See colomba.htm colomba.htm

23 Another Storyboard Example More movies – Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls Storyboard from Storyboarding 101, by James O. Fraioli. Michael Weise Productions, 2000, ISBN

24 Another Storyboard Example From software & web development. This one’s “Understanding your automobile,” at icopa.edu/authoring/stu dio/guidebook/storyboar d_example.html icopa.edu/authoring/stu dio/guidebook/storyboar d_example.html You can check out their website for more about their methodology…

25 Ideas on how to do these From a book on visual language – Storyboards are an example of using the visual for multiple purposes:  Audience focus  Designer focus  And breadth in both From Designing Visual Language, by Charles Bostelnick and David D. Roberts. Allyn and Bacon, 1998, ISBN , p. 42.