Using QFD to Tame Wicked Information System's Requirements

Abstract

This paper argues that information system's requirements can be in tension with both themselves and the context to which they apply. The tensions act as limiters on our ability to deliver effective information systems. In the paper we describe examples of such limiters. The paper then presents a response to this problem in the form of Quality Function Deployment and calls for a more systems oriented view of information systems development, which though not capable of removing the ceiling, is capable, in principle, of engineering best compromises. A case study is used to illustrate the application of QFD to the specification of information system's requirements.