Improv(e) Your Requirements

Improvisational comedy—sometimes called improv—is a form of theater in which the performance is created spontaneously, in the moment. Successful improvisers learn and use a variety of skills and techniques which allow them to better extract ideas, expand on them, and make them meaningful and manifest. Now, reread the previous sentence but replace the word “improvisers” with “analysts.” In many ways, improv is a great analogy for requirement elicitation, analysis, and specification. In this highly interactive session, Damian Synadinos uses his extensive experience with improv and requirements to explain and demonstrate similarities between the two. After setting context and expectations, Damian introduces and discusses a few basic concepts that are essential to developing valuable requirements. Building on those ideas, he continues by describing and demonstrating (with help from audience) some basic principles of improv. He then explains and shows how the very same ideas might also be useful in a requirements context. By using creative analogies and critical analysis, old ideas are reframed and presented in new, novel, and notable ways. Whether you are a requirements creator or consumer, you are sure to laugh, learn, and leave with ways to help improv(e) your requirements.