Design Thinking has become popular to tackle what is often referred to as "wicked problems" in a human-centered manner. In this position paper, we elaborate on the possibilities and needs to integrate Design Thinking into Requirements Engineering. We draw from our research and project experiences to compare what is understood as Design Thinking and Requirements Engineering considering their involved artifacts. We suggest three approaches for tailoring and integrating Design Thinking and Requirements Engineering with complementary synergies and point at open challenges for research and practice.

Requirements Engineering (RE) has been aiding software-intensive development projects for quite some time now. However, today's projects growingly demand for agile and human-centered approaches to discover and meet the often fuzzy needs of the various stakeholders involved. In that regard, Design Thinking (DT) has become one of the most promising methods to address wicked problems and define innovative solutions. We see potential to combine both, the strongly human-oriented working mode of DT with the more formal, technology-driven world of RE, to develop human-centered solutions more effectively. Yet, little is known how such an integration could be realized and which concrete benefits and challenges to expect. To better understand this endeavor, we conduct a longitudinal case study to identify how DT and RE can work together in an agile development setting from the very beginning of idea conceptualization to market-ready implementation. In this paper, we summarize our research protocol and present first findings how Design Thinking can complement current RE practices through meeting known challenges encountered by the RE community of practitioners. We provide a better understanding of the multi-faceted potential of DT for RE for both, scholars and practitioners, and describe open issues and planned future steps in our study.Index Terms-design thinking, requirements engineering, agile development.

ZusammenfassungViele der wertvollsten Unternehmen der Welt betreiben ihr Geschäft auf Basis einer digitalen Plattform samt umgebendem Ökosystem. Während es in der Theorie zahlreiche Erklärungs-und Gestaltungsansätze für die erfolgreiche Umsetzung gibt, gelten diese wirtschaftlich attraktiven Geschäftsmodelle in der Praxis nach wie vor als herausfordernd. Auf der empirischen Grundlage von sieben Plattform-Innovationsprojekten und mit Methoden der Fallstudienforschung untersucht der vorliegende Artikel, welche Rolle digitale Plattformen in der Praxis spielen und wie diese Artefakte entwickelt werden können. Mit den Ergebnissen in Form von vier Einsatz- (Platform-as-a-Core, Platform-as-an-Evolution, Platform-as-an-Enabler, Platform-as-an-Add-On) und vier Entwicklungsmodellen (Methodic Problem Solvers, Methodic Strategists, Methodic Leaders, Ad-Hoc Developers) kann gefolgert werden: Digitale Plattformen können in der Praxis vielfältige Rollen einnehmen und deren Entwicklung kann mit unterschiedlicher Methodikintensität erfolgen. Für die Praxis profitieren Fach- und Führungskräfte von industrienahen Einblicken und abgeleiteten Handlungsempfehlungen. Für die Forschung wird der Wissensfundus im Bereich des Designs und der Entwicklung digitaler Plattformen erweitert.

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