Requirements Engineering as Innovation Journalism: A Research Preview

Abstract

The successful launch of an innovation project depends on an attractive vision and how well the vision is supported by the complementary capabilities of the consortium partners that want to cooperate to realize the vision. Alas, for an innovator the search for the right partners and visions can be lengthy and difficult. Even though the analysis of context and problem, the identification of stakeholders, the analysis of stakeholder goals and techno-logical capabilities, and the definition of requirements belong to the cornerstones of requirements engineering, this requirements engineering problem has hardly been explored so far. In an attempt to avoid re-invention of well-tried solutions, we discovered journalism as a discipline that, as a rich body of methodical knowledge, may act as a source for the guidance of how a requirements engineer may support the launch of innovation projects. In the role of a journalist, the requirements engineer makes partners and their capabilities visible and thereby allows the parties to identify each other and meet. The transparency that develops between the parties becomes an instrument for consortia to emerge and to eventually answer calls for innovation with appropriate visions for innovation projects. This paper introduces the problem of initiating innovation projects and describes the potential role of journalism as a metaphor for addressing the problem. The paper also describes our plans in designing an innovation journalism approach that we hope will enable requirements engineers to increase innovation potential and ease the launch of projects that bring about these innovations.