Two experiments comparing two four-step EPMcreate-based creativity techniques for requirements elicitation

The Elementary Pragmatic Model Creativity Technique, a.k.a EPMcreate, is a method for creative requirements discovery. It includes 16 steps corresponding to all the combinations of two stakeholders’ viewpoints. The feasibility and effectiveness of the 16-step process have been confirmed by a number of experiments. The need to reduce the number of steps was observed in the very first experiments run in 2003. To address that problem a four-step creativity technique, POEPMcreate (Power-Only EPMcreate), was defined and tested. This paper describes an experiment comparing two four-step techniques, POEPMcreate and a new technique, ROSEPMcreate (Redundant, Odd Step EPMcreate), resembling traditional requirements elicitation with brainstorming. The results, even if preliminary, seem to indicate that an analyst’s work experience and native language influence the number and innovativeness of requirements he or she generates. The paper also offers Kano categories as a way to evaluate the innovativeness of generated requirements.