Analysts and Clients in Conversation: Cases in Early Requirements Gathering

This paper discusses a number of interviews with analysts and clients about their aims in early requirements gathering, carried out as part of three case studies in analyst-client interaction. Analysts and clients were asked about their aims, their professional role, and other issues that arose in their interactions with each other. The paper explores themes that emerged from these case studies that can be seen to be embedded in the social context of early requirements gathering—how the issues to be discussed were put forward, professional relationships, and the overall organizational context in which the interaction takes place. Some observations are made about the varying social contexts of early requirements gathering and the role of individual differ- ences, and the possibility of using typical contexts as “repertoire building research” (Schön 1983)