Saying what we want isn't new; people have wished for a better life since the dawn of time. Western culture has thrown up several myths about asking for and getting what you want; but all of them are rich in warnings which may be salutary reminders. Let's just look at three of them.
One of the Greek Myths of asking and getting is the sad tale of Pandora, whose name means 'all-giving', itself a warning. She was created by Zeus when he discovered that Prometheus had stolen fire from the gods, and was hence able to do many creative and destructive things that had until then been divine privileges.
Men 1, Gods 0.
Zeus at once ordered Hephaestos, the smith of the gods, to create the image of a beautiful maiden, Pandora. Athene dressed the treacherous thing with lovely clothes. Hermes filled a vessel to accompany it with all the evils and troubles the gods could devise. All the mortals and immortals were astounded by Zeus' ingenious answer to man's attempt at becoming equal in power to the gods: for here was the start of the race of women, "that threatening wile against which men are defenceless".
Men 1, Gods 1. (Political Correctness, 0)
Worse was to come. Prometheus (whose name means 'Provident') warned his brother, Epimetheus ('Heedless'), not to accept any gift from the gods. Zeus sends Pandora to Epimetheus as a gift, and - true to form - Epimetheus accepts. Pandora opens the vessel and all the evils escape and spread throughout the world, leaving only Hope behind.
Gods 2, Men 1.
Pandora's vessel came with a prohibition - it was not to be opened (just as the fruit of the tree of knowledge in Genesis was not to be tasted). We've all seen projects that went hell-or-high-water for new technology without too much cautious work on discovering requirements or evaluating risks, and all the evils - delay, cost overrun, blame, slashed functionality, bugridden software - sprang from Pandora's box and could indeed not be put back again. In the myth, one of the evils - Hope - stays behind in the vessel: it's the sting in the tail, as the project manager continues to produce hopefully optimistic plans that show that all is well while everybody knows the project is sliding helplessly to the right, thus guaranteeing continued anguish while the watching Gods chuckle. One form of this hope is that a Method or Tool (or even a Famous Consultant) can be found to bottle the spirits, to slay the demons with a magic silver bullet, to ward off the forces of evil with an amulet. The unscrupulous will always be on hand to sell Amulet-ware (version 5.1).
Perhaps the best-loved story of specification is Pygmalion. Who? Pygmalion is ancient Greek for Dwarf or Pygmy, i.e. the short and ugly fellow who couldn't get a girlfriend. Being clever and skilful he decides to make one instead, and carves a beautiful woman in the finest white marble from the island of Paros. At once he falls in love with the statue, and longs for the gods to take pity on him and breathe life into it. At last they relent, and she comes to life as the perfect nymph; the only problem is that she isn't particularly keen on the Pygmy himself.
Bernard Shaw's play (also called Pygmalion) has an English gentleman breathing elegance and elocution into a market-girl, with the same result as the Greek myth, retold (again) as My Fair Lady.
Yet another variant on the theme is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, where the mad inventor succeeds in playing God, only to find that his long-sought creation becomes a monster. And, yes, we can all think of projects where the requirements seemed to be all right at first, but…
A grim modern footnote to the Pygmalion theme is the true tale of Dr Franz Gsell, a German plastic surgeon specialising in cosmetic surgery on rich and famous women. He became very rich through this rather unusual application of his surgical training. He picked a 'plump, spotty teenager .. to become the wife of his dreams' (Metro, May 1, 2003), and carried out more than 20 operations to transform Tanja Gick 'from an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan'. They married, and Frau Gsell developed a liking for the high life of parties, glamorous dresses, jewellery and fast cars. After nine years she met a car dealer. No love was lost between the two men. Finally Herr Gsell threatened that he would cut her off financially unless she came back to him. Two masked men broke into his villa and killed him with an axe. Tanja inherited all his money, saying "I'll never have to worry about money again". She is in court accused of conspiracy to murder.
Pygmalion is the definitive myth of technology, computing, robotics, artificial intelligence, genetic engineering and all other attempts to specify better systems. Your system may work perfectly - but not deliver the results the users wanted or expected. The enduring popularity of this myth says something about public attitudes over the millennia to technology and technologists.
Finally, and most directly for requirements people, there is the folktale of the Three Wishes. There are any number of
versions, notably including
Saki's;
the genre is mentioned (but the tale is not retold) by
Gause & Weinberg. (Readers of delicate disposition are advised to skip to the last paragraph now.)
A poor soul wishes desperately for better things. In a tavern he overhears a conversation about the Monkey's Paw and is drawn unsuspectingly in. A strangely-dressed man explains that the thing allows its bearer to obtain whatever he wishes for! Visions of wealth and luxury and eternal youth float before the poor man's eyes. He manages to obtain the amulet and makes his first Wish - a great treasure of 100 gold crowns. The very next day a messenger dressed in royal attire appears at his tiny hovel, announcing that with deepest regret they have to inform him that his son has been killed working for the king, who has sent a present of 100 crowns to mark his feelings.
Horrified, and aghast at what he has done, the poor rich man wishes his son was alive again. The very next day, a sister arrives from the hospital and tells the man that his son is alive, but still terribly mutilated, unable to help himself, and that if he can care for the patient he can come and collect his son. He does so, and he and his wife work hard every day looking after their living-dead boy.
Things are so heartbreakingly bad that eventually the sad man wishes silently to himself that his son were dead again, and at once the boy dies. The stranger from the tavern who had been talking about the wonders of the Monkey's Paw appears from nowhere, and asks if the man was happy with his Three Wishes. The man speechlessly returns the hated amulet to the stranger.
All of these myths agree that it is indeed possible to specify systems of great power, and to have them built; but that getting what you really want is another matter entirely. Have you ever tried to frame your Three Wishes, if you could have anything you asked for? It isn't easy to specify your requirements.
© Ian Alexander 2002
Pygmalion
The Three Wishes
Requirements Proverbs
Glamour of Formalisation
Do User Requirements Exist?
Other Papers