Brilliant session delivered by Kim Lauenroth, First Chair of IREB, Germany, at the virtual requirements engineering conference organized by IREB (International Requirements Engineering Board) on 10th Jun'16.

1. RE@Agile
Dr. Kim Lauenroth - First Chair of IREB &
Chief Requirements Engineer at adesso AG
The future of Requirements Engineering
in an agile context
Agenda
• RE@Agile - Pitfalls
• Requirements Engineering is
important, but there are several
misunderstandings
• Agile@RE - supposed
differences and common
misunderstandings
• RE@Agile – best of both worlds
• Benefits & Prices to Pay
• Agility and Conceptual Work
• Conclusion
Picture: office.microsoft.com (MP900443152)
Pitfalls of RE@Agile
RE equals upfront
Picture: office.microsoft.com (MP900385568)
Pitfalls of RE@Agile
RE equals documentation
Picture: office.microsoft.com (MP900422458)

2. Pitfalls of RE@Agile
Running software is not the only mean to validate requirements
Picture: office.microsoft.com (MP900443136)
"Computers are good at
following instructions, but
not at reading your mind.“
- Donald E. Knuth
Picture: Dasha Slobozhanina/Donald Knuth
http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/g raphics.html
Requirements Engineering
is important!
"The hardest single part of
building a software system is
deciding precisely what to
build.
No other part of the
conceptual work is as difficult
as establishing the detailed
technical requirements . . . No
other part of the work so
cripples the resulting system if
done wrong.
No other part is as difficult to
rectify later“
Fred Brooks
Picture: © SD&M

3. RE Capability beats Programming
and Business Area Expertise!
9
Source: McConnel, S.: Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art, Microsoft Press, 2006
Factor Very
Low
Low Norm High Very
High
Requirements Analyst Capability 1,42 1,19 1,00 0,85 0,71
Programmer Capability 1,34 1,15 1,00 0,88 0,76
Personal Continuity (Turnover) 1,29 1,12 1,00 0,90 0,81
Application (Business Area) Expertise 1,22 1,10 1,00 0,88 0,81
Required Software Reliability 0,82 0,92 1,00 1,10 1,26
Product Complexity 0,73 0,87 1,00 1,17 1,34
09.06.16 Agile & Requirements Engineering
Cocomo II Project Effort Adjustment Factors
Requirements Engineering is important,
but there are several
misunderstandings
Requirements Engineering
(IREB Glossary)
A systematic and disciplined approach to the specification
and management of requirements with the following
goals:
(1) Knowing the relevant requirements, achieving a
consensus among the stakeholders about these
requirements, documenting them according to given
standards, and managing them systematically,
(2) Understanding and documenting the stakeholders’
desires and needs,
(3) Specifying and managing requirements to minimize
the risk of delivering a system that does not meet the
stakeholders’ desires and needs.
Requirements Engineers
are VOICE RECORDERS for
other people‘s thoughts?
Picture: pixabay.com

4. Requirements Engineering
(IREB Glossary)
A systematic and disciplined approach to the specification
and management of requirements with the following
goals:
(1) Knowing the relevant requirements, achieving a
consensus among the stakeholders about these
requirements, documenting them according to given
standards, and managing them systematically,
(2) Understanding and documenting the stakeholders’
desires and needs,
(3) Specifying and managing requirements to minimize
the risk of delivering a system that does not meet the
stakeholders’ desires and needs.
Requirements Engineers produces
(useless?) paper/documentation?
Picture: office.microsoft.com (MP900422458)
Requirements Engineering
(IREB Glossary)
A systematic and disciplined approach to the specification
and management of requirements with the following
goals:
(1) Knowing the relevant requirements, achieving a
consensus among the stakeholders about these
requirements, documenting them according to given
standards, and managing them systematically,
(2) Understanding and documenting the stakeholders’
desires and needs,
(3) Specifying and managing requirements to minimize
the risk of delivering a system that does not meet the
stakeholders’ desires and needs.
Requirements Engineer Clerk
of other peoples‘ ideas
Picture: office.microsoft.com (MP900422458)

5. Active Passive
Requirements Engineering
Stakeholder ...
• ... provides requirements
• ... develops ideas
• ... validates requirements
• … is responsible for result
• ... declares completion
Requirements Engineer ...
• ... documents requirements
• … resolve conflicts
• … manage requirements
Stakeholder &
Requirements Engineer
• ... provides requirements
• ... develops ideas
• ... validate requirements
• … share responsibility
• ... declare completion
Requirements Engineer ...
• ... documents requirements
• … resolve conflicts
• … manage requirements
Projects with
“expert stakeholders”
Projects with diffuse /
unclear expertise
Picture: agilemanifesto.org
Brilliant Contributions of Agile
[Meyer 2014]
• Short Iterations for
constant feedback
• Closed-window rule to
protect the team within an
iteration
• Time-boxing every
iteration to create a
reliable schedule
• Many more ….
see [Meyer 2014]
Working software
over comprehensive documentation
• RE perfectly agrees with this!
• Meal over recipe
• My home over the building plan
• working running
• www.oxforddictionaries.com
• Working := “able to function”
• Function := “Fulfil the purpose or
task of (a specified thing)”
≠
Picture: pixabay.com

6. “Standing”
Concepts
“Running"
Software
Determine “Degree of Working”
• prose description (e.g. shall-statements, user stories)
• models (e.g. UML)
• static UI mockups
• scenarios
• story boards
• use cases
• Interactive mockups
• prototypical software implementation
• software in production
RE is inline with the
Agile Principles
1st Principle:
Our highest priority is to satisfy the
customer through early and
continuous delivery of valuable
software.
RE provides the relevant
understanding of the stakeholders’
desires and needs to develop
valuable software.
Picture: office.microsoft.com (MP900402271)
RE is inline with the
Agile Principles
2nd Principle:
Welcome changing requirements,
even late in development. Agile
processes harness change for the
customer's competitive advantage.
RE providesthe proper tools to
recognizechangesin the market for
the stakeholders’ competitive
advantage.
Picture: office.microsoft.com (MP900402271)
RE is inline with the
Agile Principles
4th Principle:
Business people and developers
must work together daily
throughout the project.
RE providesthe proper tools and
techniquesto foster efficient
collaborationbetweenstakeholders
and developers.
Picture: office.microsoft.com (MP900402271)

7. RE is inline with the
Agile Principles
6st Principle:
The most efficient and effective
method of conveying information
to and within a development team
is face-to-face conversation..
RE providesproper tools and
techniquesto support verbal
communication.
Picture: office.microsoft.com (MP900402271)
RE is inline with the
Agile Principles
10th Principle:
Simplicity--the art of maximizing
the amount of work not done--is
essential.
RE provides the relevant
understanding of the stakeholders’
desires and needs to minimize the
amount of developing unnecessary
software.
Picture: office.microsoft.com (MP900402271)
RE and Agile
share the same goal of the
delivery of quality software
Agile approaches can
deliver running software in
an efficient and fast way
RE provides techniques to
understand stakeholders’
desires and needs to
develop the right software
agility makes software
development efficient and
RE makes software
development effective.
Picture: office.microsoft.com (MP900422094)
“… the language or notation
we are using to express or
record our thoughts, are the
major factors determining
what we can think or express
at all!”
Edsger W. Dijkstra
“The Humble Programmer”
ACM Turing Lecture 1972
(EWD340)
Picture: Hamilton Richards / Edsger W. Dijkstra

8. New IREB RE@Agile® Certification
combines the mindsets of RE and Agile
provides common terminology, strategies, principles,
techniques, and tools from both approaches
to mitigate the sometimes religious method wars
between these two approaches.
two new certificates:
• RE@Agile Primer (Summer 2016)
• Advanced Level RE@Agile (Winter 2016)
Benefits of RE@Agile
RE & Dev competences in the same team can reduce
handovers
picture: office.microsoft.com (MP900426563)
Benefits of RE@Agile
The Time-box is a practical means to finish requirements work
picture: istockphoto.com (000015634604)
Benefits of RE@Agile
RE helps to define the product backlog
picture: office.microsoft.com (MP900387580)

9. Prices to pay for RE@Agile
Incremental development may not encourage innovation
Picture: Raphael Goetter
Prices to pay for RE@Agile
Knowledge of the requirements lives with people
Picture: iStockphoto.com/Brigida_Soriano (14696510)
Prices to pay for RE@Agile
Agile comes with a culture change
picture: office.microsoft.com (MP900430986)
Agile & Conceptual Work
picture: office.microsoft.com (MP900430986)

10. Design Thinking
• Goal: Develop sustainable solution
ideas for wicked / ill-defined problems
• Combination of a light-weight process and different
methods/techniques
• Focus on developing cheap and quick prototypes
• Slogan ”fail fast to success sooner“
• Scalable approach (few hours – several months)
bias toward action collaborate across boundries focus on human values
be mindful of process prototype toward a solution show don’t tell
Empathize
Define
Ideate
Prototype
Test
GV Design Sprint
a five-day process for answering
critical business questions
through design, prototyping, and
testing ideas with customers.
• Monday: unpack
• Thuesday: sketch ideas
• Wednesday: select best ideas
• Thursday: prototype
• Friday: Test with real customers
http://www.gv.com/sprint/
The Lean Startup
• Minimum viable product
• Continuousdeployment
(only for software
development)
• Split testing
• Actionablemetrics
• Pivot
• Innovation accounting
• Build–Measure–Learn
RE and Agile
share the same goal of the
delivery of quality software
Agile approaches can
deliver running software in
an efficient and fast way
RE provides techniques to
understand stakeholders’
desires and needs to
develop the right software
agility makes software
development efficient and
RE makes software
development effective.
Picture: office.microsoft.com (MP900422094)

11. New IREB RE@Agile® Certification
combines the mindsets of RE and Agile
provides common terminology, strategies, principles,
techniques, and tools from both approaches
to mitigate the sometimes religious method wars
between these two approaches.
two new certificates:
• RE@Agile Primer (Summer 2016)
• Advanced Level RE@Agile (Winter 2016)
Stay tuned – visit www.ireb.org