A Requirements Framework for Novice Web Developers

Transcription

1 A Requirements Framework for Novice Web Developers WERE 2010, Sydney, Australia Sheridan Jeary, Keith Phalp, Lai Xu and Paul de Vrieze

2 Motivation I needed a method for teaching Large number of development methods Survey results Methods rarely used. Literature has a number of conclusions Little empirical work

3 Development methods and requirements Many methods are weak in requirements Assume the developer already has them before development begins No details about how to obtain them Need for a new taxonomy of requirements that can be linked to business issues.

4 Previous study Web development methods are difficult to use Formality and ambiguity of terminology Methods often incomplete There are missing or confusing instructions Assume method user has same perspective as method author Methods are complicated Lack of detailed practical guidance Methods and/or their techniques are not easy to learn

5 Requirements framework creation An initial template Final year undergraduates on sandwich BSc degrees BIT and CIT One year in industry Novice developers Seven iterations over five years

6 Requirements Framework What is the site for? To provide a community? To increase company visibility? To provide a new business model? To provide information? To make money? Who are the target audience? How will you find this out? What problems are there to doing this? What are the expected types? What are the requirements of each type? Who are the stakeholder audience? What is the business model?

7 . High Level Content Analysis Who is providing the content? Marketing analysis and planning What are the expected visitor numbers and types Product releases etc Who owns it? What about copyright? How often does it need updating? Who will update it? Consider privacy, accuracy, property, accessibility

8 Security implications? For different revenue models For different audience types Sensitive information Timescale What is required by when? Technical issues Hosting requirements Development environment Language Hardware

9 Specification Identify audience types using: Statement of purpose Market research High level target audience identification Write scenarios for each audience type From scenarios identify information requirements From scenarios identify functions they will need to complete Identify audience structure linking similar information and functions

10 Evaluation (1) 45 students used 569 comments 257 related to framework categories Requirements gathering had 121 comments from 33 students Actions: Clarify the meaning of some categories Additional categories to be added

11 Evaluation (2) Web development using the framework by 7 students Plus points simplicity, flexibility and ease of use Negative points simplicity, flexibility, ease of use!!

12 Questions?

13 Spare slides WERE 2010, Sydney, Australia Sheridan Jeary,Keith Phalp, Lai Xu and Paul de vrieze

14 Features of web development projects User domain Developer domain Environment domain

15 Features of web development projects User domain Domain Difference Source User domain The user is divorced from the development and may not be engaged [8] with the process There is no traditional entry or exit point to or from web pages [9] causing user disorientation The technology is more visible to the user [10] There is a high reliance on the user interface [10] The non-functional requirements may be primary [8] There is volatility in requirements [10] Because of the unpredictable publishing environment users blame the site when the Internet does not work [1]

16 Features of web development Is projects web development different? Developer domain Domain Difference Source Developer The development team contains graphic designers, marketers etc. [8, 11] with different disciplinary emphasis Developers suffer from cognitive overload [13] Developers are not experienced. They are also difficult to use as a [1, 14] resource in estimation There is uncertainty in the developer domain [10] There are rapidly changing technology and tools [10, 15] There is a lack of useful methods [15] Development methods are written for computer scientists and not web developers [16]

17 Features of web development Is projects web development different? Environmental domain domain Domain Difference Source Environment The linkage between the business architecture and the technical [10] design is tighter than conventional software systems Web sites are like magazines, particularly in the design of the [11] information structure The web development environment has shorter life cycles, aggressive [11] release demands and shorter time frames for initial delivery Web-development is hype driven [1] Web development is immature [1] The web development often changes the business model [10] The development is of a sophisticated business model, and both a [10] complex and component based information architecture The web is a highly competitive, market environment [10] Web development involves fine grained evolution and maintenance [10]

18 The study Self selecting 4 th year BSc Business Information Technology students Dissertation project Not computer scientists but technical High pressure development environment Three methods

19 The study the results 13 decided not to use a web development method 8 used part of a web development method 1 used a web development method for the whole development process