TOPICS

We wish to ensure the quality of modern, complex products. The requirements placed on development processes are increasingly more extensive. RE and SE are of central importance in the system development process. In view of increasing complexity, do we need new, independent methods? What is ‘that extra something’ necessary for networked development projects? Can new job profiles, for example, the IREB’s Digital Design Professional, enhance and complete the requirements engineering landscape? Are AI and machine learning the multifunctional kitchen appliance in our cookery tool box? Is the next step to focus on cooking utensils (UX) that are easy to use?

With requirements, we communicate on different levels and in different languages (e.g. technical/IT languages). Communication is not like salt. Because the more we communicate, the better the cooperation. But can there be too much communication? Can we kill things by talking about them too much, by adding to many good ingredients to the soup? In communication, the soup is too salty if verbal agreements are not followed through with actions, or we stop at the level of vision and common understanding. Then we have a common picture but no implemented solution. In other respects, communication is definitely the crucial ingredient in our RE soup. Without it, our requirements engineering does not work. It is therefore the basis for successful cooperation and successful product development.

Agility is intended to make companies more dynamic, robust and adaptable to highly volatile market conditions and a VUCA world. Through an agile approach to requirements engineering, we want to achieve faster time-to-market, better communication, constant customer feedback, greater customer satisfaction, quality and production improvements, cost reductions in development and a better company culture. Agility brings the soup to the boil and makes all the ingredients blend together even more harmoniously. The salt is no longer common salt. It is refined and brings with it  corresponding new flavours. What is the pinch of salt in your agile approach?

Despite increasing complexity and the networking of systems, there is often only one or a few experts responsible for information security and user safety. This disparity leads to inevitable security incidents and an increased safety risk. In addition to developing expertise within the team, clearly defined security and safety requirements can counteract this imbalance at an early stage. In practice, this presents us with many challenges. Which measures have proven successful? What new methods are there? What is the proverbial salt in the security and safety soup in requirements and systems engineering?

What makes the right tool that creates enthusiasm in our RE practices? Which details can be compared to the pinch of salt that helps to create developments that taste good to our clients and excite them so that they want another portion? What is the salt or seasoning that adapts to new types of RE and helps to create communicative cooperation?

Effective RE requires teamwork. Successful communication is essential when it comes to eliciting and consolidating requirements. There are many ways of making communication ‘that extra something’: maps, canvases and boards have already rescued many a project. What has worked well in your product development – and proved successful in your teamwork (remote, office and hybrid working)?

It is the small, simple things that bring us success. We have collected a lot of expensive and partly exotic spices in our spice rack that are supposed to refine our dishes. But common salt, i.e. simple things, is needed as a basis for giving our dishes, i.e. our development projects, the right seasoning. Disregarding salt can cost us dearly. A pinch of salt can have a wonderful effect on a dish. Sometimes, the wrong amount can make our soup too salty. A lot of one particular spice does not help much either. All it takes is a little carelessness to spoil the dish. Perhaps there are also too many cooks at work, so that not everyone knows what the other is doing. What is the salt in your practical experience and how do you ensure the right amount?