Collaborative Requirements Engineering: Bridging the Gulfs Between Worlds - Intentional Perspectives on Information Systems Engineering - page 348

Collaborative Requirements Engineering:
Bridging the Gulfs Between Worlds

Alistair Sutcliffe

Abstract A method engineering approach is described for managing communi-
cation in RE processes based on Clark's theory of common ground. The common
ground framework is used to evaluate the affordances of different RE representations
such as scenarios, storyboards and models. The contribution that representations
make to RE activities is reviewed to suggest heuristics for selecting appropriate
representations to develop mutual understanding of RE issues between different
stakeholders. A meta-model for RE activities is proposed that describes the pro-
cess of communication and developing mutual understanding driven from abstract
and concrete views of the problem domain. The meta-model is applied to manage-
ment of RE sessions from a method engineering perspective. Application of the
framework is illustrated with a case study of health informatics application.

1 Introduction

Design of methods and processes with the accompanying models, representations
and tools has been an important influence on RE resulting from Rolland's research
over a number of years [ 22, 25] . In general, Rolland's perspective was one of com-
posing processes which could be executed by individuals or teams; although design
of collaborative processes per se was not explicitly addressed in her work. This
chapter follows a method engineering approach to RE with a focus on the nature of
collaboration and communication in teams and between stakeholders.
Collaboration in the form of viewpoints, negotiations between stakeholders,
and management of the RE process has been researched by many authors and is
inherent in modelling languages such as i ∗ and RE methods [ 21] . More recently
collaboration among RE teams has received attention [ 8] to investigate how