Elizabeth Bjarnason

Challenges and practices in aligning requirements with verification and validation: a case study of six companies

Weak alignment of requirements engineering (RE) with verification and validation (VV) may lead to problems in delivering the required products in time with the right quality. For example, weak communication of requirements changes to testers may result in lack of verification of new requirements and incorrect verification of old invalid requirements, leading to software quality problems, wasted effort and delays. However, despite the serious implications of weak alignment research and practice both tend to focus on one or the other of RE or VV rather than on the alignment of the two. We have performed a multi-unit case study to gain insight into issues around aligning RE and VV by interviewing 30 practitioners from 6 software developing companies, involving 10 researchers in a flexible research process for case studies. The results describe current industry challenges and practices in aligning RE with VV, ranging from quality of the individual RE and VV activities, through tracing and tools, to change control and sharing a common understanding at strategy, goal and design level. The study identified that human aspects are central, i.e. cooperation and communication, and that requirements engineering practices are a critical basis for alignment. Further, the size of an organisation and its motivation for applying alignment practices, e.g. external enforcement of traceability, are variation factors that play a key role in achieving alignment. Our results provide a strategic roadmap for practitioners improvement work to address alignment challenges. Furthermore, the study provides a foundation for continued research to improve the alignment of RE with VV.

A case study on benefits and side-effects of agile practices in large-scale requirements engineering

In the software industry, there is a strong shift from traditional phase-based development towards agile methods and practices. This paper reports on a case study aimed at investigating if, and how, agile Requirements Engineering (RE) can remedy the challenges of traditional RE, and what new challenges agile RE may pose. The results from an initial case study with 9 practitioners from a large software development company, which is transitioning towards agile-inspired processes, show that agile practices address some RE challenges such as communication gaps and overscoping, but also cause new challenges, such as striking a good balance between agility and stability, and ensuring sufficient competence in cross-functional development teams.

Overscoping: Reasons and consequences — A case study on decision making in software product management

Efficient scope management is a core part of software release management and often a key factor in releasing successful software products to the market. In a case when not all the requirements for the next software product release are known ‘a priori’ and when new requirements are issued throughout the project, the risk of overscoping by including more functionality than can be implemented increases. In this paper, we report on findings from an empirical interview study about understanding the causes and effects of overscoping in a large-scale industrial set up. Six main causes of overscoping have been identified in this work, complemented by root cause analysis of the causes and concluded by effects of overscoping. The results provide an increased understanding of the scoping activity as a continuous activity and outline risks and issues that can lead to a situation of overscoping.

The role of distances in requirements communication: a case study

Requirements communication plays a vital role in development projects in coordinating the customers, the business roles and the software engineers. Communication gaps represent a significant source of project failures and overruns. For example, misunderstood or uncommunicated requirements can lead to software that does not meet the customers’ requirements, and subsequent low number of sales or additional cost required to redo the implementation. We propose that requirements engineering (RE) distance measures are useful for locating gaps in requirements communication and for improving on development practice. In this paper, we present a case study of one software development project to evaluate this proposition. Thirteen RE distances were measured including geographical and cognitive distances between project members, and semantic distances between requirements and testing artefacts. The findings confirm that RE distances impact requirements communication and project coordination. Furthermore, the concept of distances was found to enable constructive group reflection on communication gaps and improvements to development practices. The insights reported in this paper can provide practitioners with an increased awareness of distances and their impact. Furthermore, the results provide a stepping stone for further research into RE distances and methods for improving on software development processes and practices.

Distances between requirements engineering and later software development activities: a systematic map

[Context and Motivation] The main role of requirements engineering (RE) is to guide development projects towards implementing products that will appeal to customers. To effectively achieve this RE needs to be coordinated with and clearly communicated to the later software development activities. [Question/Problem] Communication gaps between RE and other development activities reduce coordination and alignment, and can lead to project delays and failure to meet customer needs. [Principle ideas/results] The main hypothesis is that coordination is enhanced by proximity to RE roles and artefacts, and that distances to later activities increase the effort needed to align requirements with other development work. Thirteen RE-related distances have been identified through a systematic map of existing research. [Contribution] Reported distances are mapped according to research type, RE activity and later software development activities. The results provide an overview of RE distances and can be used a basis for defining a theoretical framework.

Alignment practices affect distances in software development: a theory and a model

Coordinating a software project across distances is challenging. Even without geographical and time zone distances, other distances within a project can cause communication gaps. For example, organisational and cognitive distances between product owners and development-near roles such as developers and testers can lead to weak alignment of the software and the business requirements. Applying good software development practices, known to enhance alignment, can alleviate these challenges. We present a theoretical model called the Gap Model of how alignment practices affect different types of distances. This model has been inductively generated from empirical data. We also present an initial version of a theory based on this model that explains, at a general level, how practices affect communication within a project by impacting distances between people, activities and artefacts. The presented results provide a basis for further research and can be used by software organisations to improve on software practice.

A theory of distances in software engineering

ContextCoordinating a software project across distances is challenging. Even without geographical and time zone distances, other distances within a project can cause communication gaps. For example, organisational and cognitive distances between product owners and development-near roles such as developers and testers can lead to differences in understanding and interpretation of the business requirements. Applying good software development practices, known to enhance alignment and coordination within development projects, can alleviate these challenges. ObjectiveThe aim of our research is to identify and describe underlying factors which can explain why certain practices support aligning and coordinating software development projects. MethodWe have inductively generated a theory analysing empirical data consisting of 15 interviews from 5 different companies. The systematic and iterative analysis was based on an initial hypothesis that distances affect development, and on results from previous research. ResultsWe present a theory of distances that explains how practices improve the communication within a project by impacting distances between people, activities and artefacts. We also present a theoretical model of how specific alignment practices affect different types of distances. ConclusionsThe results provide a basis for further research and can be used by software organisations to improve on software practice.

An Industrial Case Study on Test Cases as Requirements

It is a conundrum that agile projects can succeed ‘without requirements’ when weak requirements engineering is a known cause for project failures. While Agile development projects often manage well without extensive requirements documentation, test cases are commonly used as requirements. We have investigated this agile practice at three companies in order to understand how test cases can fill the role of requirements. We performed a case study based on twelve interviews performed in a previous study. The findings include a range of benefits and challenges in using test cases for eliciting, validating, verifying, tracing and managing requirements. In addition, we identified three scenarios for applying the practice, namely as a mature practice, as a de facto practice and as part of an agile transition. The findings provide insights into how the role of requirements may be met in agile development including challenges to consider.

Reflecting on Evidence-Based Timelines

Project retrospectives can be powerful tools for project teams to collectively identify communication gaps and practices to improve for future projects. However, even if project members take the time for a retrospective, it can be hard to correctly remember and jointly discuss past events in a constructive way. Fact-based timelines that visualize a projects events offer a possible solution.

Evidence-Based Timelines for Agile Project Retrospectives – A Method Proposal

Retrospective analysis of agile projects can support identification of issues through team reflection and may enable learning and process improvements. Basing retrospectives primarily on experiences poses a risk of memory bias as people may remember events differently, which can lead to incorrect conclusions. This bias is enhanced in project retrospectives which cover a longer period compared to iteration retrospectives. To support teams in recalling accurate and joint views of projects, we propose using an evidence-based timeline with historical data as input to project retrospectives. The proposed method was developed together with a large software development company in the telecommunications domain. This paper outlines a method for visualizing an evidence-based project timeline by illustrating aspects such as business priority, iterations and test activities. Our method complements an experience-based approach by providing objective data as a starting point for reflection and aims to support objective analysis of issues and root causes.