Abstract:

In this paper, we present a new approach to facilitate the process of eliciting user needs in the information systems development context. Today it has become important to study users and their needs since products or services that fulfill an unsatisfied need have a high probability to succeed on the market. Hence, identifying user needs and designing products and services accordingly is imperative in innovation projects. We have identified two missing issues within the existing literature concerning user needs and systems development. Firstly, there are no consistent frameworks or categorizations of different types of needs, and secondly, there are no descriptions of how to proceed in the process of eliciting and analyzing user needs. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to present a theory of human motivation and behavior which we use as a framework to elicit and understand user needs. We have found different strengths with this framework such as the facilitation for the analyst to find divergent views of the same need as well as needs that were solutions to another need. In addition, divergent views of the same need became obvious when we applied this framework. A drawback we have observed by using the framework is the possibility that a need is forced into a box, thereby risking missing its actual meaning.