Story-Telling

 Story-telling is a method to encourage users to tell rich stories with the purpose of identifying their needs, or underlying rationale, relevant in a particular situation (Holst and Ståhlbröst 2006). Focusing on telling stories instead of answering specific questions about needs and requirements encourage users to talk about, and discuss, their situation and dreams independent of any technical solution or artefact. Hence, they could elevate their perspective from what might be technically feasible to what they consider as desirable and meaningful in the situation. When analyzing the stories, you will find users talk about their needs in relation to particular situations and usually independent of a specific solution or artefact. In this way, you will find the users underlying rationale related to their needs of a possible final solution. This is not the case with requirements.