Complete thesis - Murdoch University

may have some common aspects• soft – Bach (1999) states that the requirements, as the reasons why we decide to buildwhat we build (the drivers of design choices), exist inside our minds. Hence the full setof requirements exists in the shared mind space among all the product stakeholders,with the requirements document a model of the information in that mind space. Thisargues for multiple viewpoints from multiple stakeholders which must be accommodated,enabling the construction of a complete set of requirements.An alternate non-positivist view accepts the subjective nature of the system developmentprocess within a socio-technical context, and further exploits the constructivist nature ofknowledge as a model of RE. Within this stance, software development may be viewed:• hard – a diagnostic (Dewey, 1910) approach to determining aspects of the problem(which suggests there is no ‘typical’ problem) is coupled with a functional approachto problem-solving, exemplified by the work of Simon (1960), where requirements areconstructed as goals through a process of structuring problems• soft – the requirements are truly constructed outside the mindspace of both stakeholdersand Requirements Engineer. Language and other representational schemes in thedialogue help constitute the participants’ views (Boland, 1985). In the same vein, Hocking(1996) argues that in reality, requirements are actually affected by the elicitationprocess and hence are dynamic and fluid. This view highlights the potential importanceof the social and cultural structures (which may be personal or organisational) held bythe Requirements Engineer and the stakeholders, amongst others.The terms used in Requirements Engineering also create perceptions about the nature ofrequirements. Hocking (1996, p 320) suggests terms such as ‘analysis’ and ‘elicitation ofinformation’ suggest that REinvolves the extraction of information from a static situation in which the usersare passive subjects of the proposed changes.In this positivist view, requirements are developed or derived or defined. (Ghezzi et al, 1991,p 364) note that the purpose of requirements analysis and specification isto identify the qualities required of the application, in terms of functionality, performance,ease of use, portability and so on49