Distributed Requirements Specification: Minimizing the Effect of Geographic Dispersion

Requirements specification is an important phase of the requirements engineering area in the software development process. In geographically distributed environments, this phase becomes critical due to the characteristics of the distributed development (physical and temporal distance, cultural differences, trust, communication, etc). The objective of this paper is to analyze the requirements specification in geographically distributed environments, identifying the main challenges and proposing a process to minimize the impacts of this scenario. The results are based on a case study carried on a multinational organization that has software development units in multiple countries, and was recognized as a SW-CMM level 2 organization in 2 of them. The results suggest the necessity to adapt the requirements specification phase to the distributed software development environment, addressing the main existing challenges. The problems and the solutions adopted are presented, aiming to relate these solutions to the organization distribution level, considering where the project team, users and customers are located.