SAMOSAs- Leading to Meeting Effectiveness

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From the course by University of Colorado System

Requirements Elicitation: Artifact and Stakeholder Analysis

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University of Colorado System

Requirements Elicitation: Artifact and Stakeholder Analysis

17 ratings

Course 2 of 5 in the Specialization Requirements Engineering: Secure Software Specifications

In Elicitation: Artifact and Stakeholder Driven Analysis, you will learn to use both recorded and presently unrecorded knowledge in your elicitation techniques. As you get started in finding out about the new product, you must first learn about the product that was (if there was one) and then learn about the system to be. Oftentimes, you'll find yourself in an environment you know nothing about! This course will help you find ways to learn about the domain, the system that was, and the system to be. Please review: "Who this class is for to determine if you are ready to take this graduate level course".

From the lesson

Interviewing- Learning from the Sources

Knowledge of the system-as-is and the system-to-be can be obtained through interviews. While the concept of conducting an interview seems easy overall, an efficient and effective interview is challenging to conduct. Here we'll talk about guides to meeting effectiveness and guidelines for conducting a useful interview, specifically for determining what the stakeholder has and needs.

SAMOSAs- Leading to Meeting Effectiveness4:04

Meet the Instructors

Kristen Walcott-Justice
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science

Meeting effectiveness can also be increased by the idea of Samosas.

This is actually an acronym used in software engineering and we have the joke that,

"If you don't like samosas,

you could go with mimosas."

However, mimosas don't work with

the acronym so we're going to stick with samosas for this one.

Samosas has a very clear meaning of how we work through a meeting.

This also applies to our interviews.

When you start an interview,

first, start it on time.

Also, have a set end time,

know when you need to end.

Relay both of these concepts to the interviewees.

We're all busy.

So, have a very clear agenda of what needs to be

covered and what needs to be accomplished during that interview.

Also, remember that it is utterly unsatisfying to end

a meeting realizing you're out of time but nothing has been decided or done.

I've been in so many meetings personally where we walk

away and at every single agenda item was,

we're going to table this to another time.

Three months later it came back again and it just kept happening.

So, make sure you are actually making progress.

In such situations, you will also have dominant people in the conversation.

Watch their facial expressions and watch

the reactions in those facial expressions of everyone in the group.

As a mediator, ensure that there is only one speaker at a time.

Don't have people talking over one another.

Also, watch not just one person takes over the conversation.

If other interviewees are nodding along and

actually interacting then, they're likely okay.

But make sure that they are still engaged in the conversation.

If they're constantly typing on their laptops or making, "Oh, my goodness,

please let me out of here," faces,

then you probably need to move things along.

Either it's not interesting to them or they just feel left out.

When you come up with your list of what you want to cover in the agenda you can also sign

questionnaires or that list of topics that you want to discuss in advance.

This will allow your interviewees to prep in advance at least a little bit.

Let them think about the big questions that you intend to discuss.

Lastly, you can send a list of what was

discussed or your overall action items to the interviewees after the meeting.

This will allow them to review how you interpreted

the material and correct errors or clarify ideas.

Another place where this helps is when

your interviewees have either thought about it more and then said,

"Oh, I wish I'd said this during this meeting.

But here's what I actually thought," or,

it can also get around the,

"This person was talking the entire time.

I didn't get to say anything,

here's what I thought."

And other situations like that.

Also, just sending out that list of responses on an individual level or on a group level,

lets you say, "Hey, I did listen,

here's what I heard,

let me know if you have any feedback."

Even if you get no response,

your interviewees will likely appreciate it.

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