Requirements Engineering: A State of Practice in Gulf Cooperation Countries

Abstract

Requirement Engineering (RE) is one of the crucial elements for successful software development. Nevertheless, in terms of research discussing the failure or success of various products, little has been undertaken to examine this area as it pertains to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations, i.e. Saudi Arabia (KSA), Kuwait, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Qatar, and Oman. The aim of this research is to present an analysis of the current ways in which software is developed in these nations. The researchers undertook a survey of practitioners in software development, asking questions regarding their recent work. The survey was based on an extensive survey that was adapted in view of contemporary software development practice. The research reports on requirement practices and how they relate to project sponsors/customers/users and project management. The respondents came from GCC nation companies, most of whom worked on developing software in-house. The outcomes demonstrate that the majority of IT companies in these nations do not employ the optimal methodologies for requirement engineering processes, using their own. In addition, project managers are often lacking in complete authority. Making comparisons between our findings and past research, requirements engineering practices is still inadequate in these nations. Thus the research results are particularly useful as the data is derived from countries where published research about software development practices is scant.