Title: A study of designer familiarity with product and user during requirement elicitation

Authors: Beshoy Morkos; Joshua D. Summers

Addresses: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Florida Institute of Technology, 150 W. University Blvd., Melbourne, Florida 32901, USA ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Clemson University, 250 Fluor Daniel Building, Clemson, S.C. 29634, USA

Abstract: It is important to recognise the effects of a designer's source of information and decision making during requirements elicitation. Requirements are widely recognised as an important step in the design process. Designers may have perspective based on their experience which results in a level of familiarity with the design. This paper reports on a study that explores the effects of designer familiarity with a project and its user on their ability to elicit requirement specifications. Two familiarity constructs, product and user, are measured as low or high and used to study requirement elicitation with varying familiarity. A high familiarity study using five graduate students and a low familiarity study using a team of five students during senior capstone design are compared for their requirements elicitation. The results of this study include an analysis of the requirements developed and participant survey results from the elicitation process. The results revealed familiarity does in fact have an effect on the ability of elicit requirements. Participants in the low familiarity study expressed difficulty and eliciting requirements while those in the high familiarity study were able to generate more requirements at a faster rate.

Keywords: product design; user familiarity; requirements elicitation; user centred design; design process; product familiarity.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCAET.2013.052934

International Journal of Computer Aided Engineering and Technology, 2013 Vol.5 No.2/3, pp.139 - 158

Published online: 30 Jan 2014 *

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