Requirements Culture: A Case Study on Product Development and Requirement Perspectives

Abstract

A desire to better understand requirements and their uses within product development inspired this case study conducted at a large power tool company. Researchers were interested in determining if a requirements culture existed within the company investigated, how this culture varied across departments, and how individuals at the company viewed requirements in engineering design. Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted by five teams of interviewers over the course of two months to answer these questions. Employees in various positions across the company were interviewed in the study including Project Engineers, a CAD Designer, an Industrial Designer, Project Managers, and Vice Presidents. Through a detailed analysis of the interview transcripts and documentation, it was determined that the company did have a definite requirement culture and that the transfer of requirements across departments must remain consistent for the individual groups to be effective. Furthermore, it was found that employee engagement with requirements was more significant with those who were involved in the early stages of product development.