A Fresh Look at Software Requirements: Part III -- When Customers Don’t Know What They Want

by E.M. Bennatan

Because stakeholders never really know what they want, why even bother asking them? This was the tongue-in-cheek reply in a mock interview conducted by one of IEEE Software’s editors. Although humor is a rarity for the usual solemn and sober IEEE, the editor lightheartedly got an important point across to his readers: requirements analysis is changing, and many projects that remain stuck in the past are finding it difficult to deal with customers who don't know what they want.

This Executive Update reports on a recent Cutter survey that found that almost 50% of software development organizations have now adopted a development process that permits requirements to evolve throughout the project.