Requirements Framing Affects Design Creativity

TL;DR

This study investigates how the framing of desiderata as ideas, requirements, or prioritized requirements influences design creativity, revealing that formal presentations reduce originality but increase practicality, and minor language changes significantly impact design outcomes.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence on how desiderata framing affects design creativity, highlighting the importance of presentation style in fostering originality or practicality.

Findings

Framing desiderata as ideas enhances originality.

Formal framing as requirements increases practicality.

Minor language variations significantly influence design outcomes.

Abstract

Design creativity, the originality and practicality of a solution concept is critical for the success of many software projects. However, little research has investigated the relationship between the way desiderata are presented and design creativity. This study therefore investigates the impact of presenting desiderata as ideas, requirements or prioritized requirements on design creativity. Two between-subjects randomized controlled experiments were conducted with 42 and 34 participants. Participants were asked to create design concepts from a list of desiderata. Participants who received desiderata framed as requirements or prioritized requirements created designs that are, on average, less original but more practical than the designs created by participants who received desiderata framed as ideas. This suggests that more formal, structured presentations of desiderata are less appropriate where a creative solution is desired. The results also show that design performance is highly susceptible to minor changes in the vernacular used to communicate desiderata.