Negotiation behavior during requirement specification

Negotiation is part of specification; during specification acquisition, users negotiate among themselves and with analysts. During specification design, designers negotiate among themselves and with a project leader. The author reports on work concerned with multiagent specification design. He describes how various agents, often with conflicting goals, can resolve their differences, integrate their results, and produce a unified specification. Such bargaining behavior is both ubiquitous in complex specification and unrepresented by current methods. Automated means to promote integrative behavior during specification are presented. Formal models of users' desires and resolution methods are necessary for integrative reasoning.<>