Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 49-71 |
| Number of pages | 23 |
| Journal | Requirements engineering |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - Mar 2024 |
Abstract
The success of software projects depends on developing a system that satisfies the stakeholders’ wishes and needs according to their mental models of the intended system. However, stakeholders may have misaligned mental models of the same system, resulting in conflicting requirements. For this reason, a shared understanding of the project vision is essential for the success of software projects. While it is already challenging to achieve shared understanding in synchronous contexts, such as meetings, it is even more challenging when only asynchronous contexts, like messaging services, are possible. When multiple stakeholders are involved from different locations and time zones, primarily asynchronous communication occurs. The use of asynchronous communication tools for the development of a shared understanding has hardly been analyzed. In this paper, we look to turn the potential detriment of having to discuss a project vision asynchronously into an opportunity for stakeholders to achieve a shared understanding. For this purpose, we give an overview of common challenges of asynchronous communication. We also propose five concepts designed to minimize the impact of these challenges. We examine categories of asynchronous communication tools and assess their adaptability to our concepts. In a workshop, we chose three most suited representatives to include in our main experiment. In this experiment, we evaluate the adapted representatives and a prototype of our own with 30 participants. Our results show the suitability of our concepts. Participants using our concepts were able to achieve a higher level of shared understanding.
Keywords
- Asynchronous, Requirements engineering, Shared understanding, Video, Vision
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Computer Science(all)
- Software
- Computer Science(all)
- Information Systems
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In: Requirements engineering, Vol. 29, No. 1, 03.2024, p. 49-71.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Turning asynchronicity into an opportunity
T2 - asynchronous communication for shared understanding with vision videos
AU - Nagel, Lukas
AU - Karras, Oliver
AU - Amiri, Seyed Mahdi
AU - Schneider, Kurt
N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) under Grant No.: 289386339, Project ViViUse. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.
PY - 2024/3
Y1 - 2024/3
N2 - The success of software projects depends on developing a system that satisfies the stakeholders’ wishes and needs according to their mental models of the intended system. However, stakeholders may have misaligned mental models of the same system, resulting in conflicting requirements. For this reason, a shared understanding of the project vision is essential for the success of software projects. While it is already challenging to achieve shared understanding in synchronous contexts, such as meetings, it is even more challenging when only asynchronous contexts, like messaging services, are possible. When multiple stakeholders are involved from different locations and time zones, primarily asynchronous communication occurs. The use of asynchronous communication tools for the development of a shared understanding has hardly been analyzed. In this paper, we look to turn the potential detriment of having to discuss a project vision asynchronously into an opportunity for stakeholders to achieve a shared understanding. For this purpose, we give an overview of common challenges of asynchronous communication. We also propose five concepts designed to minimize the impact of these challenges. We examine categories of asynchronous communication tools and assess their adaptability to our concepts. In a workshop, we chose three most suited representatives to include in our main experiment. In this experiment, we evaluate the adapted representatives and a prototype of our own with 30 participants. Our results show the suitability of our concepts. Participants using our concepts were able to achieve a higher level of shared understanding.
AB - The success of software projects depends on developing a system that satisfies the stakeholders’ wishes and needs according to their mental models of the intended system. However, stakeholders may have misaligned mental models of the same system, resulting in conflicting requirements. For this reason, a shared understanding of the project vision is essential for the success of software projects. While it is already challenging to achieve shared understanding in synchronous contexts, such as meetings, it is even more challenging when only asynchronous contexts, like messaging services, are possible. When multiple stakeholders are involved from different locations and time zones, primarily asynchronous communication occurs. The use of asynchronous communication tools for the development of a shared understanding has hardly been analyzed. In this paper, we look to turn the potential detriment of having to discuss a project vision asynchronously into an opportunity for stakeholders to achieve a shared understanding. For this purpose, we give an overview of common challenges of asynchronous communication. We also propose five concepts designed to minimize the impact of these challenges. We examine categories of asynchronous communication tools and assess their adaptability to our concepts. In a workshop, we chose three most suited representatives to include in our main experiment. In this experiment, we evaluate the adapted representatives and a prototype of our own with 30 participants. Our results show the suitability of our concepts. Participants using our concepts were able to achieve a higher level of shared understanding.
KW - Asynchronous
KW - Requirements engineering
KW - Shared understanding
KW - Video
KW - Vision
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85190528523&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00766-024-00414-5
DO - 10.1007/s00766-024-00414-5
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85190528523
VL - 29
SP - 49
EP - 71
JO - Requirements engineering
JF - Requirements engineering
SN - 0947-3602
IS - 1
ER -