Why users cannot “get what they want”

Authors:
Ray J. Paul
Affiliations:
-
Venue:
ACM SIGOIS Bulletin - Special issue: “Do users get what they want?” (DUG'93)
Year:
1993

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Abstract

The notion that users can 'get what they want' has caused a planning blight in information systems development, with the resultant plethora of information slums that require extensive and expensive maintenance. This paper will outline why the concept of 'user requirements' has led to a variety of false paradigms for information systems development, with the consequent creation of dead systems that are supposed to work in a living organisation. It is postulated that what is required is an architecture for information systems that is designed for breathing, for adapting to inevitable and unknown change. Such an architecture has less to do with 'what is wanted', and more to do with the creation of a living space within the information system that enables the system to live.