Visualizing a Requirements-centred Social Network to Maintain Awareness Within Development Teams

When the requirements in a software system change, we should notify every contributor who participates in the analysis, design, implementation, and testing of the requirement to reduce rework. However, the network of contributors working on a requirement is constantly changing, making it not only difficult to seek expertise from other team members, but also difficult to send requirements-change information to team members. To promote communication and improve awareness among contributors working on the same requirement, in this position paper we suggest using a visual representation called a requirements-centred-social-network diagram. Using the social-network diagram, a contributor can learn about another contributor's communication patterns around the development of a requirement, or send requirements-change-awareness notifications to every member of a team working on the same requirement. This social network can automatically expand to include contributors who work on a requirement but may not have been included in a project plan. The requirements-centred social network therefore captures not only the relationships among an initial team, but also emergent relationships among peripheral contributors. We believe that, by providing visual feedback of communication patterns within a contributor's expanding social network and promoting communication among team members, we can improve awareness of the work done by other contributors and maintain awareness of requirements change.