Definition:
IKIWISI is an acronym for “I Know It When I See It” which is used in Agile Software development to simplify the process of gathering software requirements. In the olden days, software requirements gathering was easy when compared to the present. Of course, it was not that simple. Software requirements gathering was the first set of business, before even starting with designing, cost estimation, planning and programming. But, certain straight forward criteria required completeness, consistency, traceability and testability for some software specifications, like User-interface: IKIWISI or I Know It When I See It.
The recent developments in IKIWISI, COTS ( Commercial off the Shelf) software and the rapid change in IT development, combined to examine the complicating factors. The many degrees of complexity and freedom in solutions, intangibility in software, seems to demand concrete and cyclic feedback, from people evaluating prototypes or partially built systems to clarify and refine their vision.
Further Reading:
Book: Agile and Iterative Development: A Manager’s Guide by Craig Larman