The progress of user requirements through a software development project

Abstract

Many studies indicate that the fulfilment of user requirements is an important prerequisite for the development of successful products. The relevance of formulating well-founded user requirements for the product development process is supported. However, succeeding in eliciting relevant user requirements is not enough to ensure a successful product. The whole development process must be user-oriented if the user requirements are to be fulfilled by the final product. The objective of this study was to analyse and describe the obstacles and barriers to the fulfilment of user requirements encountered throughout a development project. The development of an Internet-mediated information system for public transport was used as a case study. The progress of the user requirements was followed through the development process. The studied project resulted in an information system that lacked much in content and functions required by the users because of a set of organisational, technical, competitive and social barriers. The general conclusion is that a product development process intended to be user-oriented must focus on user questions within the development process. The team should involve people with knowledge in that area, and those people should have influence on the important decisions in the project. The connection between requirements analysis and project planning must be clear, and the management of the specification of requirements should be analytical and specified. The project group should adopt a systematic view on how to create a user-oriented product; it is not necessarily done through the design of the product itself but also by overcoming external barriers. Identifying user requirements is necessary for developing a user-oriented product, but it is equally important to apply a development process that allows the project team to fulfil these requirements.