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yourself out of the here and now. Not everyone is a natural futurist. That\u2019s why understanding existing issues is so important.<\/p>\nRequirements gathering, sounds easy. Ask people what they want and gather their answers together. But how do you know you\u2019ve got the right information?<\/p>\n
People are creatures of habit and it\u2019s harder than it may seem to take yourself out of the here and now. Not everyone is a natural futurist. That\u2019s why understanding existing issues is so important.<\/p>\n
Everyone knows what\u2019s wrong with their current set up. This is valuable information. The activity can be done in a one-to-one or a facilitated group discussion.<\/p>\n
Either way, face-to-face is definitely best as requirements gathering isn\u2019t writing up a wish list. It\u2019s a conversation.<\/p>\n
By challenging absolute statements you can dig deeper and transform an issue into a requirement. When recently working with staff reviewing their teaching spaces the following statement was made<\/p>\n
‘I can\u2019t see what\u2019s going on around the lab’.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
We then used the following questions to probe deeper<\/p>\n
\n
- What do you need to see?<\/li>\n
- Why do you need to see it?<\/li>\n
- How do you get round this issue?<\/li>\n
- Do others share your view?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The answers to which provided the requirement for a clear line of sight from teaching position to the whole lab.<\/p>\n
Playback and challenge further<\/strong><\/h3>\n
It\u2019s imperative not to be side tracked by solutions at this point. What does need to happen is to loop the conversation back round. Playback the requirement and challenge further.<\/p>\n
A useful activity is to keep a log of the requirements detailing where it originated along with the narrative to any decisions. Tracking tools like JiRA<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Trello<\/a> are great but Excel will also do the trick.<\/p>\n
As there will have to be a prioritisation of requirements at some point, mapping each requirement to a benefit will really help. Will this save time, money or improve student experience?<\/p>\n
With all this focused review of the detail we mustn’t loose sight of the bigger picture. Make sure your low level requirement doesn\u2019t conflict with your department or institutional strategic goals.<\/p>\n
Is there an app for that?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
A requirement to enable large numbers of students to practice simple lab techniques led us to consider\u00a0virtual labs. \u00a0This would solve some logistical issues e.g timetabling and resource management. However, in this particular example the bigger picture illustrated by data from\u00a0the National Student Survey (NSS) indicates\u00a0that students value lab time, as it provides more contact opportunities with teaching staff. This isn\u2019t to say that virtual labs should be\u00a0ruled out as a solution. Just that the requirement still needs to be worked\u00a0through.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s not an app that can do this activity for you. It\u2019s all about communication and a repeatable process of listen, challenge and playback.<\/p>\n
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