Requirements and Science of Design

Some reflections

Alistair Sutcliffe

University of Manchester

UK

Dagstuhl workshop

October 2008

Some themes

Contexts

SocialPhysicalTemporalSpatial

Evolving requirements

Blurring theBoundary

Requirements& Design

ArchitecturesSimulations & Solutions

Managing the process

ImprovingtheProduct

Requirements in the wider world

Layers of Complexity

Collaborative tasks

Individual tasks

Human-TechnologyInteractionBasicergonomics

Environmentpermutations

weatherlocationnatural events

operational proceduresemergency proceduresthreats

Operational personnel

different rolestraining levelfatigue, stress

necessaryand sufficientscenarios ?

mistakes ?errors ?

Social and Physicalenvironment

CultureLanguageSocial norms

Designedartefact

Contexts- Genres of Applications

• Engineering – control applications- large scale systems engineering- aircraft, chemical plants…

• Administrative systems- large scale social systems (engineering ??)

• User driven systems- unpredictable and emergent needs, individual and social scale- tools rather than applications

• Product-style systems- transactional- ERPs, market driven requirements and satisfycing

• Software products discretionary- life style, social-ware, entertainment, education, user experience

Final thoughts- ubiquitous requirements ?

Artefactsare mobile

TheDesign ?

The immediate environment

The artefact evolves,appropriates partof the environment(automation)

The widerenvironment

IntelligentArtefacts- need modelsof the world

Who and what is designed ?softwarepeople’s jobsorganisations

Artefactsact on and change theworld