Requirements gathering is rarely simple. Stakeholders may have conflicting requirements that require compromise, and reaching that compromise often requires the systems analyst’s involvement. In addition, determining which requirements are in conflict may not only be a political issue but may also require the use of techniques to determine conflicts in the software attributes—issues that may not be apparent in your requirements-gathering sessions with your stakeholders. Finally, those requirements may present an ethical challenge to you as the systems analyst.
Examine the issue of conflicting requirements for a video-on-demand system as outlined in the article entitled “Identifying Requirements Conflicts and Cooperation.”
For this Discussion, consider the following:
If you were the systems analyst on a similar project that had disagreement among your stakeholders, how might you use the technique described in this article to resolve that conflict?
What if you encountered a requirement that conflicted with your ethical framework (for example, a requirement that violated the privacy of customer data)?
How could the techniques in this article help you to identify, communicate, and resolve that ethical dilemma?
What other techniques might you use in order to come to a compromise?