Skip to main content

Building a Narrative Based Requirements Engineering Mediation Model

  • Conference paper
Software Process Improvement (EuroSPI 2008)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 16))

Included in the following conference series:

  • 824 Accesses

Abstract

This paper presents a narrative-based Requirements Engineering (RE) mediation model to help RE practitioners to effectively identify, define, and resolve conflicts of interest, goals, and requirements. Within the SPI community, there is a common belief that social, human, and organizational issues significantly impact on the effectiveness of software process improvement in general and the requirements engineering process in particularl. Conflicts among different stakeholders are an important human and social issue that need more research attention in the SPI and RE community. By drawing on the conflict resolution literature and IS literature, we argue that conflict resolution in RE is a mediated process, in which a requirements engineer can act as a mediator among different stakeholders. To address socio-psychological aspects of conflict in RE and SPI, Winslade and Monk (2000)’s narrative mediation model is introduced, justified, and translated into the context of RE.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
eBook
USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Softcover Book
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Pruitt, D.G., Kim, S.H.: Social conflict: Escalation, stalemate, and settlement, 3rd edn. McGraw-Hill, New York (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Sommerville, I., Sawyer, P.: Requirements Engineering: A Good Practice Guide. Wiley, Chichester (1997)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  3. Easterbrook, S.M.: Resolving Requirements Conflicts with Computer-Supported Negotiation. In: Jirotka, M., Goguen, J. (eds.) Requirements Engineering: Social and Technical Issues, pp. 41–65. Academic Press, London (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Nuseibeh, B.: To Be And Not To Be: On Managing Inconsistency in Software Development. In: Proceedings of 8th International Workshop on Software Specification and Design (IWSSD-8), Scloss Velen, Germany, 22-23 March 1996, pp. 164–169. IEEE CS Press, Los Alamitos (1996)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  5. Van Lamsweerde, A.: Requirements Engineering in the Year 2000: A Research perspective. In: Invited Paper for ICSE 2000 - 22nd International Conference on Software Engineering, Limerick, June 2000. ACM Press, New York (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Jackson, M.: Problem Frames: Analysing and Structuring Software Development Problems. Addison-Wesley Longman Publishing Co., Inc., Amsterdam (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Yu, E., Mylopoulos, J.: Why Goal-Oriented Requirements Engineering. In: Dubois, E., Opdahl, A., Pohl, K. (eds.) Fourth International Workshop on Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality (REFSQ 1998), Pisa, Italy (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Robinson, W.N.: Negotiation Behaviour During Multiple Agent Specification: A Need for Automated Conflict Resolution. In: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE-12), Nice, France, March 1990, pp. 268–276. IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos (1990)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Boehm, B., Grünbacher, P., Briggs, R.: Developing Groupware for Requirements Negotiation: Lessons Learned. IEEE Software 18(3) (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Damian, D.E., Shaw, M.L.G., Gaines, B.R., Zowghi, D.: A multi-disciplinary approach to the study of distributed requirements negotiations. In: Proc. of the 5th Australian Workshop on Requirements Engineering, Brisbane, Australia, December 8-9, pp. 91–100 (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Damian, D.E.: A research methodology in the study of requirements negotiations in geographically distributed software system. In: Proceedings of 11 the IEEE International Requirements Engineering Conference (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Barki, H., Hartwick, J.: Interpersonal conflict and its management in information system development. MIS Quarterly 25(2), 195–228 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Winslade, J., Monk, G.: Narrative Mediation: A New Approach to Conflict Resolution Jossey-Bass (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Robertson, M., Swan, J., Newell, S.: The role of networks in the diffusion of technological innovation. Journal of manage studies 33(3), 335–26 (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Ma, N., Hall, T., Barker, T.: Using an expert panel to validate a Requirements Engineering Mediation Model. In: EASE 2008 conference, Italy, 26 (June 2008) (submitted, 2008)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Macaulay, L.: Requirements engineering, London, UK. Springer, Heidelberg (1996)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  17. Hoffmann, O., Cropley, D., Cropley, A., Nguyen, L., Swatman, P.: Creativity, Requirements, and Perspectives. Australian Journal of Information Systems 13(1), 159–175 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Nguyen, L., Swatman, P.: Promoting and Supporting Requirements Engineering Creativity. In: Dutoit, A.H., McCall, R., Mistrik, I., Paech, B. (eds.) Rationale Management in Software Engineering, ch. 10. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Nuseibeh, B., Easterbrook, S.: Requirements Engineering: A Roadmap. In: Proceedings of International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE-2000), Limerick, Ireland, 4-11 June (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Ian, S.: Integrated Requirements Engineering: A Tutorial. IEEE Software 22(1): 16-23, 2005

    Google Scholar 

  21. Beck, K.: Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change. Addison Wesley, Reading (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Cohn, M.: User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development. Addison-Wesley, Boston (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Curtis, B., Krasner, H., Iscoe, N.: A field study of the software design process for large systems. Communications of the ACM 31(11), 1268–1287 (1988)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Maiden, N., Bright, B.P.: Recurrent communication patterns in requirements engineering meetings. In: WETICE 1996, pp. 208–213 (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Constantine, L.L., Lockwood, L.A.D.: Software for Use: A Practical Guide to the Essential Models and Methods of Usage-Centered Design. Addison-Wesley, Reading (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Burroway, J.: Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft. Addison-Wesley, Reading (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Fellows, L., Hooks, I.: A Case for Priority Classifying Requirements. In: Eighth Annual International Symposium on Systems Engineering, Seattle, Washington, International Council on Systems Engineering (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Davis, A.: The Art of Requirements Triage. Computer 36(3), 42–49 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Wiegers Karl, E.: First Things First: Prioritizing Requirements. Software Development 7(9) (1999)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Rory V. O’Connor Nathan Baddoo Kari Smolander Richard Messnarz

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Ma, N., Hall, T., Barker, T. (2008). Building a Narrative Based Requirements Engineering Mediation Model. In: O’Connor, R.V., Baddoo, N., Smolander, K., Messnarz, R. (eds) Software Process Improvement. EuroSPI 2008. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 16. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-85936-9_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-85936-9_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-85934-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-85936-9

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics