When it's time to purchase or develop a new application, how do you describe what you
really need? Not all requirements may be equal, or equally important to your users.
Bridge the gap between what you think project stakeholders and users need and what they
actually require to significantly reduce guesswork in technology project plans.
We literally "wrote the book" on user-centered requirements (User-Centered Requirements:
The Scenario-Based Engineering Process, McGraw & Harbison). Our expertise in the following
techniques enables us gather information that enhances the alignment of the new
application with stakeholder needs:
- Stakeholder interviews to capture primary and secondary "scenarios of use"
- Analysis of key work processes and tasks required of individual users of the application
- Organizational process reviews to identify processes that must be supported and current gaps that exist
- Facilitated brown paper sessions to envision and draw "to be" functionality
- Small group ranking and review sessions to reveal relative criticality of requirements
- Critical incident reviews, including analysis of real events where the current system or application failed to provide required support
- Systems review to understand systems environment and requirements related to technical issues.
After we conduct the requirements analysis activities we can begin the definition process
with construction of usage and context scenarios that stakeholders and users then refine.
We create lists of functional and information needs related to each scenario and capture
the business objectives that must be addressed. Next, we document the gap between current
and desired functionality. Only when the requirements are well understood from a user/stakeholder
perspective do we document them in the more traditional requirements format.
If you are dealing with incomplete requirements, or need to increase the user acceptance of
new systems, call the requirements analysis specialists at Cognitive Technologies.