Empirical studies of computer support for distributed requirements negotiation

Requirements conflicts and negotiation are critical aspects of managing software requirements. The integration of the interests of all relevant stakeholders is essential, although difficult in a software development world characterized by a diverse stakeholder community and organizational and budgetary constraints. The combination of distributed software development and the importance of involving of all relevant stakeholders in requirements meeting leads to a pressing need for the investigation of systems to support this process.; This thesis is about the application of empirical methods to understand of how stakeholders reach resolution in distributed requirements negotiations. First, it develops a methodology for empirical studies of computer support in distributed requirements negotiations. This development begins with an in-depth exploration of pertinent conceptual and methodological domains. These domains are found in diverse research areas such as requirements engineering, management and negotiation research, group research and computer-supported collaborative work. By bringing together aspects of research in these fields a novel multi-faceted methodology is created.; This methodology provides guidelines for the investigation of research questions or hypotheses about computer support in distributed development teams. It progresses as a logical sequence from the analysis of the requirements negotiation situation, the relevant distributed group settings and the computer technology for requirements negotiations, to a discussion of important aspects to investigate and appropriate data collection and analysis procedures.; To illustrate its usefulness, the methodology is applied to the design of an empirical study in a controlled environment. The study uses a multimedia meeting system that incorporates audio and video channels, and real-time file sharing capabilities. Fifteen facilitated groups of three people negotiate requirements both in face-to-face meetings and computer-mediated distributed settings. Aspects investigated are group performance and behavior, and human facilitation in face-to-face vs. computer-mediated requirements negotiations. Contrary to traditional wisdom, groups in face-to-face meetings perform no better than those in computer-supported settings. The empirical evidence also indicates that (1) the distributed communication of stakeholders with conflicting views contribute to a more rational approach to negotiation and (2) that the human facilitation of distributed settings is possible and aspects that are detrimental or beneficial to facilitation in computer-mediated requirements negotiations exist.