Evaluation of Visual ConOps in Early Solution Validation in a Small and Medium-sized Enterprise

Visual ConOps;Early Validation;Need elicitation

This paper focuses on the design, implementation, and assessment of the visual Concept
of Operations (ConOps) as an informal visualization technique employed for early solution validation
in Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). SMEs face significant challenges in early solution
validation due to the complex nature of modern systems and the constantly changing market demands. These challenges may be further intensified by immature leadership and ineffective communication within the organization. By applying an industry-as-laboratory approach in an SME industry
case, this study aims to reduce the negative impacts of miscommunication between internal and
external stakeholders and contribute to needs elicitation and system validation process. The results
show that visual ConOps can effectively support the need elicitation process, which is crucial for
early validation, however, it may not independently serve as a comprehensive communication tool
between the developer team and stakeholders. It is essential to supplement visual ConOps with
complementary tools to effectively convey stakeholder input to the developer team.