Establishing Requirements for Human Factors Engineering and HSI: Why Do We Feel Like We're Banging Our Heads against a Wall?

Abstract

Incorporation of human factors engineering (HFE) and human systems integration (HSI) concerns in the establishment of program and system requirements is crucial for developing effective systems and products. This panel will discuss challenges related to why requirements are difficult to define, when requirements should be inserted, and how practitioners can create requirements with the characteristics necessary to result in systems that meet their intended capabilities. The types of requirements to be addressed include system capability requirements describing the basic needs to be met, contractual requirements defining the work to be done, the specification tree defining the product or system to be acquired, and documents defining the number, skill mix, and training requirements for personnel to operate and support the system. While there are common themes across these types of requirements, their individual characteristics necessitate that they be dealt with in different ways. This panel will address the challenges associated with each type of requirement and ways in which HFE and HSI practitioners can overcome those challenges.