Professional Requirements Engineering (RE) training addresses general terminology and methodology for RE. Even though several training providers offer some training adjustments to a company, the expectation is that participants can transfer learning content into their domain and work context. Our experiences indicate difficulties in carrying out this transfer. We have set up domain-specific training focusing on connecting domain context and professional RE training material to address this challenge. This experience report outlines the concept we use in intralogistics.
Best practices
Textual req.
Focus groups Bidding process Vague req.
No payment Domain knowledge
future No real customer Dependencies
Best practices for RE use cases - Based on our company's RE processes, we isolated three
highlevel use cases: (A) RE in sales, (B) RE in customer projects, and (C) RE for future products and
product optimization. Our training material provides for each of these use cases (
RE in sales RE in projects RE for products Challenges Multi-component solution Dependencies Changes
Case simulation – We use 4 hours of training for a gamified case simulation, in which the participants compete in small groups to execute RE in a mockup project, to experience and overcome challenges, and to present their deliverables. The participants receive a mockup call for tenders from a meal-kit delivery company, the invite to visit the (mockup) warehouse, and the invite to discuss details. We guide the participants with minimal expected deliverables and create an open and safe space where they can apply and test RE methods. The minimal expected deliverables are a process model, a project overview, prepared material for elicitation meetings, elicitation method selection, documented requirements, and a presentation. 2. Evaluation and conclusion
Evaluation – We executed this training in 2022 and 2023 in international groups (18 and 40 participants). In 2022, all participants had a software background, while in 2023, a multidisciplinary group (software, mechatronic, sales, marketing) participated. The participants valued the "application of knowledge" and indicated that our training "shows the usefulness and importance of RE." In 2022, the feedback about applicability was most optimistic, while in 2023, some participants highlighted missing applicability to their work context. In total, 67% of the 2023 participants rated the training as a valuable use of time.
Summary – Our training material connects IREB RE concepts and methods to the context of intralogistic automation. The deliverables provided during the case simulation and the collected feedback show a slight tendency for this approach to support applicability. We also see struggles with our current training concept, some related to applicability. As our current data are not representative, we can only assume that this might be related to the diversity of the 2023 trainee group, and we recommend further investigating this aspect.