Small-Scale Classification Schemes: A Field Study of Requirements Engineering

Small-scale classification schemes are used extensively in the coordination of cooperative work. This study investigates the creation and use of a classification scheme for handling the system requirements during the redevelopment of a nation-wide information system. This requirements classification inherited a lot of its structure from the existing system and rendered requirements that transcended the framework laid out by the existing system almost invisible. As a result, the requirements classification became a defining element of the requirements-engineering process, though its main effects remained largely implicit. The requirements classification contributed to constraining the requirements-engineering process by supporting the software engineers in maintaining some level of control over the process. This way, the requirements classification provided the software engineers with an important means of discretely balancing the contractual aspect of requirements engineering against f...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2004
• Where: CSCW
• Authors: Morten Hertzum
• Keywords: Classification Schemes, CSCW 2004, Requirements, Requirements Classification, Social Sciences