Transformations in requirements elicitation practices in the post-pandemic: An exploratory study of the software industry

Abstract

Requirements elicitation is a key activity within the software development lifecycle. However, the COVID-19 pandemic triggered an abrupt shift to remote work, which significantly impacted how this practice was conducted in the software industry. In this context, aiming to gather evidence on how elicitation practices have adapted in distributed projects, and with the intention of contributing to the development of solutions to enhance these practices in remote environments, an exploratory study based on a survey was conducted. The survey included responses from 80 professionals working in the software industry in Argentina. The findings indicate that most respondents had to adopt collaborative technologies and adjust client interaction dynamics to address the new challenges. Additionally, difficulties related to communication, coordination of distributed teams, and the need to implement new strategies to mitigate the limitations of remote work were identified.