Building Language Consensus in Information Systems Development - An Interdisciplinary Approach

A central challenge in information systems development (ISD) refers to the ability to fit the different requirements as perceived by the stakeholders into shared accurate and complete models of the desired system. Focusing on ISD as a language development and formalization process, we claim that its effectiveness depends on the ability to manage the question how people deal with language in practice and build consensus in the concrete ISD process. By applying social interaction, communication and language theories we assert that the role of language in ISD is of particular relevance as it is a communication medium and an interaction goal at the same time. Moreover, the analysis of a concrete ISD project from this interdisciplinary perspective provides helpful insights in the development of language consensus and gives advice on how an efficient language interaction can be targeted by the moderation of the consensus building processes.