Comments on: Why requirements don’t work – the riddle of experience vs memory

By: Wendy Osmond

Wendy Osmond — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 00:51:01 +0000

The concept is interesting, however, I am not sure if experience vs. memory is the reason. Requirements are difficult because people can usually only describe what they are doing now and cannot visualize what can be done. Prototypes are important because it they allow actual visualization – a spring board from which other ideas can come.

By: CoCreatr

CoCreatr — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:51:31 +0000

Thank you so much. This addresses major reasons why a large majority of (software) development projects fail. People cannot easily specify what they need. They they can more easily review, critique, or co-create a model. This is why work products matter more than procedures, as Naturalspi once wrote (linked above).

By: Phil Hoppe

Phil Hoppe — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 01:48:44 +0000

This sounds so true. As a consultant our role is not to ask for requirements, its to use our experience as well to complement and describe the stories and experiences.
And yes, a prototyping approach does show what a lot of words in a requirements document will never be able to…this could be your experience in your processes. This provides a great early link to establishing the training approach.