Problems with Communication About Requirements in a Complex Program in a Large Organization

This paper elucidates problems with communication about requirements in a complex program in a large organization. Our insights are rooted in experiences we, as industrial practitioners, have had in our extensive involvement in a specific program in which we delivered software consultancy services to an industrial client. Throughout this involvement, we encountered significant problems, which caused insufficient requirements engineering. Our efforts to communicate effectively about requirements proved to be inadequate. Although some problems could have been addressed with established requirements engineering techniques, we have not been able to convince key stakeholders to allow us to apply such techniques to the desired extent. The main contribution of this paper is five lessons about our insufficient understanding of key stakeholders' interests and about the impact both the program organization and the overall company organization had on the possibilities for and limitations of effective communication about requirements.