collaborate with stakeholders to elicit requirements ... · definition a requirements workshop is a...

Collaborate with Stakeholders to Elicit Requirements

Module 14

© 2013 Corporate Education Group. All Rights Reserved. v1.0 1

Job Aid: Document Analysis Summary

Definition

Document analysis is a technique that uses existing business-related documents such as business plans, product literature, procedure manuals, and other documents. The technique also uses available “as is” information about the current system, including existing system specifications, user manuals, business requirements documents, procedures, as well as many others.

Use When …

Other requirements elicitation techniques, such as requirements workshops and prototyping, are also used.

Stakeholders are unavailable.

Benefits Challenges

A starting point for Requirements Elicitation.

An understanding of what is missing, and what is needed.

Business-related documents, such as technology plans, that can signal guidelines for future technology that is relevant for the current project.

A reduction in the time needed to meet with others to obtain the same information.

Relevant documents may not be available.

Current system documents may be outdated and useless.

Documents may not be readily available (retrieval issues); therefore, much time and effort are required to find relevant information.

The amount of documentation available may be overwhelming.


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Job Aid: Observation Summary

Definition

Observation is a means to elicit requirements by conducting an assessment of the subject matter expert’s work environment.

Alternative terms: Job Shadowing, A Day In the Life, Walking the Process, Ethnography

Use When …

Insight into stakeholders’ environments is required.

Stakeholders are available and willing to participate.

Analysts are trained in observation and gathering data.

Benefits Challenges

Seeing the “real” process provides more complete information.

Watching someone in action fills in many details not available from conversations and emails.

Identifying the correct end users and appropriate samples.

Large number of observations can be difficult to observe.

Telephone and personal interruptions.

Complex use cases or processes.

Unusual scenarios may not occur during observation.

Processes that involve alternating system and manual steps can be difficult to observe.


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Job Aid: Interviewing Summary

Definition

An interview is a systematic dialog to elicit information from a person or group of people in an informal or formal setting by talking to the person – the interviewee, asking relevant questions and documenting the responses.

Use When …

Enough time is available to prepare for and conduct interviews with required stakeholders.

Analysts are trained in interviewing techniques.

Interviewees (stakeholders) are knowledgeable and available.

Benefits Challenges

Flexible technique that can be combined with observation.

“Real world” understanding of what the end user or SME does.

Interviewee body language, such as facial expressions add value.

Detailed information can be obtained by using probing questions and follow-up questions.

Rapport with the interviewee can be established or built.

Questions asked can be tailored to the communication style of the interviewee.

Interviewees may not be supportive.

Interview must be preceded by Enterprise Analysis and document analysis to maximize value.

Interviewees may have difficulty in finding the time to interview.

Several interviews may be necessary.

Compiling interview data may be time-consuming.

Interview data must be reviewed and confirmed.

Advanced listening and questioning skills are necessary.


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Job Aid: Brainstorming Summary

Definition

Brainstorming is a group dynamics technique that invokes the creativity of meeting participants to generate the maximum number of ideas or responses.

Use When …

A skilled facilitator is available.

Participants (stakeholders) are knowledgeable and available.

Benefits Challenges

Generation of many new ideas

Development and improvement of team cohesion

Increased awareness of the range of possibilities

Removal of “blind spots” by increasing our awareness of different ways to view the same issue.

Supportive behavior yields increased quantity and quality of ideas.

Groups can be dominated by a very loud and/or talkative person.

Groups can be persuaded by a popular person.

Groups can be led in the wrong direction by a powerful person.

For all of these challenges, capturing only one idea at a time per person ensures that each participant gets a hearing.

There can be a perception of “brainstorming again?” This may be based on prior experiences where the sessions did not produce useful outcomes. Reassure participants that the method being used leads to solid ideas. Emphasize the importance of capturing the appropriate ideas of everyone. Point out that without these ideas, they may end up with something that makes their work more difficult. Mention that you will spend as little of their time as possible.

Disagreements will occur. Ensure that all suggestions are given a fair hearing. Develop objective evaluation criteria that can be used to fairly compare suggestions. For example, you will compare the cost or programming hours required.


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Job Aid: Requirements Workshop Summary

Definition

A Requirements Workshop is a structured way to capture requirements. A workshop can be used to scope, discover, define, prioritize, and reach closure on requirements for the target system. Well-run workshops are considered one of the most effective ways to deliver high quality requirements quickly. They promote trust, mutual understanding, and strong communications among the project stakeholders and project team to produce deliverables that structure and guide future analysis.

Alternate terms: elicitation workshop, facilitated workshop, Joint Application Design (JAD) workshop

Use When …

Skilled workshop facilitators are available.

Stakeholders are available and committed to the process.

Consensus about requirements and their relative prioritization is needed.

Benefits Challenges

Time savings; individual interviews, and follow-up meetings take far longer than gathering all of the appropriate participants into one room.

Organizational learning and synergy occur because all of the business functions involved have an increased understanding of the big picture.

Provides a window into how the different individuals and groups relate to one another, including the dynamics of power and politics, and the impact on the processes.

Preparing sufficiently

Limiting domination by those with power

Scheduling the workshop to include necessary participants for all sessions

Resolving conflicts and reaching consensus

Including remote participants

Ensuring that all participants get a fair hearing


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Job Aid: Prototyping Summary

Definition

A prototype is a visual model of an entire system or of certain functions.

Alternative terms: storyboarding, throw-away prototyping, rapid prototyping, mock-up

Use When …

A visual representation of the solution will help stakeholders clarify their understanding of the requirements.

An experimental approach must be validated.

Requirements are relatively unknown and incremental prototypes will help stakeholders develop requirements.

Benefits Challenges

Reduce uncertainty about what the system will look like

Become artifacts that can be used to improve traceability

Provide a way to represent user requirements

Facilitate communication between end users, SMEs, BAs and software developers

Make it easier to determine the amount of effort required

Reduce cost

Reduce uncertainty about what the system will do

Increase the shared understanding of the system

Many iterations may be required

May convey unrealistic expectations to end users, who think that the coding is almost complete.

May go on longer than necessary (complex system iterations) if allowed to continue beyond a useful point.

May need to reconcile differing opinions among end users

May overlook the architectural or system interface issues

May find it difficult to choose the correct people to evaluate the prototype


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Job Aid: Survey Summary

Definition

A survey is a means of eliciting information from many people, anonymously, in a relatively short time.

Alternative term: questionnaires

Use When …

Input must be gathered from a large number of stakeholders.

Stakeholders are geographically distributed.

Best used:

o To validate requirements and assumptions following one-on-one interviews

o To develop high-level understanding of stakeholder needs before conducting interviews and requirements workshops

Trained survey designers are available.

Enough time is available to design and distribute the survey and gather and analyze the results.

Benefits Challenges

Low cost (particularly if few open-ended questions are asked).

Multi-level data is provided from the organization.

Open-ended questions provide insight not available from closed questions.

Administration is easier and faster than interviews or requirement workshops.

Responses provide quantitative data from a large number of current and potential users.

Questionnaires can be used prior to interviews to reduce interview time.

Questionnaires can be used after interviews to provide missing data.

Process is less invasive than interviews or requirements workshops.

Achieving high response rates is sometimes difficult.

Developing appropriate questions is difficult at times.

Follow-up work is almost always necessary.

Highly specialized expertise is necessary to create a survey.

Open-ended questions require more detailed analysis.

Ambiguous questions can be misunderstood or unanswered.

Missing questions omit necessary data.

Long surveys lead to lower response rates.


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Job Aid: Focus Group Summary

Definition

A focus group is a qualitative research technique in which a small group of people are asked to provide opinions on a product, service, concept, advertisement, idea, or packaging.

Use When …

Opinions are needed rather than decisions.

A meaningful cross-section of 10-12 stakeholders can be gathered.

Analysts are trained in designing and moderating focus groups.

Stakeholders are available and willing to collaborate.

Enough time is available to plan and conduct the focus groups.

Benefits Challenges

Provides accurate, timely information

Is less expensive than market research

Consumes less time than individual interviews with the same number of people

Captures attitudes and desires

Demonstrates how participant attitudes and desires are the same as, and different from, others

Scheduling to accommodate all participants

Obtaining a skilled and neutral moderator

Participants may not act the same in a simulated setting as they would normally

A homogenous group may not represent all requirements

Group pressure to conform can contaminate the results (groupthink)

Getting participants to “open up” in a group setting


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Job Aid: Interface Analysis Summary

Definition

Interface analysis is a technique that helps you derive requirements from systems and subsystems. Interface analysis reveals the people, hardware, software, and database elements that must communicate to make the system perform as required.

Use When …

The scope of the project includes several external interfaces.

Accurate documentation for the external interfaces is available or can be readily compiled.

Benefits Challenges

Uncover root causes of errors, such as using multiple screens when a task can be performed with one screen.

Provide information useful in test planning.

Improve project time estimating.

Most end users are not well informed about the system machinations such as interfaces.

Changes on either side of the interface, such as upgrades, can interfere with communication.

Hardware and software interfaces are far removed from business requirements.


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Job Aid: Reverse Engineering Summary

Definition

Reverse Engineering is a process of analyzing a subject system/product to identify underlying business processes, data, and rules.

Use When …

Insight into current and proposed requirements can be gained by reviewing the current system or process.

An automated tool is available to facilitate the process.

The proposed system or solution is not significantly different from the current one.

Copyright (and patent) laws do not prohibit reverse engineering.

Benefits Challenges

Provides an opportunity for a BA to collaborate with one or more software developers.

Shows how a system actually works.

Uncovers errors and constraints in existing programs.

Helps uncover the design information for commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) programs when their companies are unresponsive or have gone out of business.

Reveals the quality of the code.

Locates system bugs.

BAs without programming experience may not be qualified.

Senior BAs with programming experience are probably necessary since reverse engineering almost always employs fairly sophisticated software tools.

Some tools are costly, and therefore require a cost: benefit analysis.

Copyright laws and agreements may explicitly outlaw the technique.

Caution: Just because an item has a

characteristic, does not necessarily mean it is a requirement.


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Job Aid: Quality Function Deployment Summary

Definition

“A rigorous technique for relating product features and attributes to customer value.” (Weigers, 2003)

Use When …

There is a need to see the interrelationships between different possible features.

Stakeholders are available and committed to the collaborative process.

Developers and stakeholders are available to jointly develop prioritized requirements and their specifications.

Benefits Challenges

Time is saved because all participant inputs and concerns can be addressed with the full group of stakeholders.

Organization learning increases.

Links between user requirements, specifications, and priorities are illustrated and demonstrated.

Cross-functional teamwork is required.

Less rework is needed because the customer/user is involved.

QFD can also be used 30-60 days after a solution has been implemented.

A skilled, knowledgeable facilitator is needed.

Extensive detail must be managed.

Poor group decision making can result in poor data

End users don’t always know exactly what they need.

Due to their proprietary nature, few good examples of an HOQ are available.


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Job Aid: Guidelines for Selecting Elicitation Techniques

Technique Use

Document Analysis It is the early stage of a project.

Other elicitation techniques, such as interviewing, requirements workshops, and prototyping, are also planned.

Stakeholders are unavailable.

Observation Insight into stakeholders’ environments is required.

Stakeholders are available and willing to participate.

Analysts are trained in observation and gathering data.

Interviewing Enough time is available to prepare for and conduct interviews with required stakeholders.

Analysts are trained in interviewing techniques.

Interviewees (stakeholders) are knowledgeable and available.

Brainstorming A skilled facilitator is available.

Participants (stakeholders) are knowledgeable and available.

Requirements Workshops

Skilled workshop facilitators are available.

Stakeholders are available and committed to the process.

Consensus about requirements and their relative prioritization is needed.

Prototyping A visual representation of the solution will help stakeholders clarify their understanding of the requirements.

An experimental approach must be validated.

Requirements are relatively unknown and incremental prototypes will help stakeholders develop requirements.

Job Aid: Guidelines for Selecting Elicitation Techniques

13 © 2013 Corporate Education Group. All Rights Reserved.

Technique Use

Survey Input must be gathered from a large number of stakeholders.

Stakeholders are geographically distributed.

Best used:

o To validate requirements and assumptions following one-on-one interviews

o To develop high-level understanding of stakeholder needs before conducting interviews and requirements workshops

Trained survey designers are available.

Enough time is available to design and distribute the survey and gather and analyze the results.

Focus Group Opinions are needed rather than decisions.

A meaningful cross-section of 10-12 stakeholders can be gathered.

Analysts are trained in designing and moderating focus groups.

Stakeholders are available and willing to collaborate.

Enough time is available to plan and conduct the focus groups.

Interface Analysis The scope of the project includes several external interfaces.

Accurate documentation for the external interfaces is available or can be readily compiled.


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Job Aid: Tips for Overcoming Elicitation Challenges

Stakeholder Challenges

Stakeholders may not know what they want in terms of specific project requirements.

o By gathering and assessing information, and facilitating sessions with stakeholders, the BA can explore their needs collaboratively.

o By iteratively performing requirements gathering and analysis and documentation activities, existing and proposed requirements can be modeled to help stakeholders define the requirements that will address the project's business problem or opportunity.

Stakeholders may be resistant to change or may have difficulty visualizing how things can operate differently.

o The BA can explore the current situation with stakeholders to identify what works well and what doesn't. The BA can reassure stakeholders that requirements will evolve collaboratively.

Stakeholders may provide vague requirements because they do not want to commit to a specific answer, fearing the cost implications of requirements changes.

o The BA can impress upon the stakeholders that the project team is ready to embrace change, which it is taking an iterative and incremental approach that reduces the cost of change, and that the goal is to identify and implement the best solution for stakeholders which means that some requirements will evolve over time.

Stakeholders may provide requirements in one or two areas but ignore others.

o By gathering information and by finding and leveraging patterns, he BA may conclude that he is not working with the right people. It may be that a major constituency is missing and therefore the BA needs to reconsider the mix of project stakeholders that are involved in requirements gathering.

Some stakeholders may not be willing to participate in the requirements gathering process, or senior management may be unwilling or unable to provide the right stakeholders needed to define requirements. This may be the result of a lack of understanding about how projects should be run.

o Early in the process, communicate to the stakeholders, and to senior management, that their involvement is critical to the success of the project.

Stakeholders have difficulty reaching consensus

o The BA can work through a negotiation process with stakeholders to resolve conflicts.

o Establish relative priorities. For example, classify the requirements into groups of Must Have, Nice to Have, and Not Necessary.

o Identify and log issues/conflicts. Stakeholders will individually identify differing issues because of the unique perspective that each brings to the process.