Simplicity in Requirements Engineering

Michael Jackson

Functional requirements for computer-based systems are not simply elicited from the sponsors, users and other interested people. They must be developed and designed. Simplicity is a vital goal in this task, to master the functional complexity that is typical in many such systems. Separation of concerns is the classic approach to mastering complexity, but the concerns that have been separated then demand to be recombined. In this talk an approach to requirements derivation is sketched that rests on separation and recombination of concerns, emphasising the role of human understanding.

Speaker bio:

Michael Jackson has worked in software since 1961. His program design method, described in Principles of Program Design (1975), was chosen as the standard method for UK government software development. Later work at AT&T, on telecommunication systems architecture, is the subject of several patents. His work on problem structure and analysis is described in Software Requirements & Specifications (1995), in Problem Frames (2001), and in many published papers. He has visiting posts at The Open University and the University of Newcastle, participating in research projects there and at other research and academic institutions. He has received several research awards, including the British Computer Society Lovelace Medal, the IEE Achievement Medal, and the ACM Sigsoft Outstanding Research Award.