Software requirements negotiation: some lessons learned

Negotiating requirements is one of the first steps in any software system life cycle, but its results have probably the most significant impact on the system's value. However, the processes of requirements negotiation are not well understood. We have had the opportunity to capture and analyze requirements negotiation behavior for groups of projects developing library multimedia archive systems, using an instrumented version of the USC WinWin groupware system for requirements negotiation. Some of the more illuminating results were: most stakeholder Win Conditions were noncontroversial (were not involved in issues); negotiation activity varied by stakeholder role; LCO package quality (measured by grading criteria) could be predicted by negotiation attributes; and WinWin increased cooperativeness, reduced friction, and helped focus on key issues.