Combining Perceptions and Prescriptions in Requirements Engineering Process Assessment Presented By: Hector M Lugo-Cordero, MS EEL

Authors Nannette P. Napier – PhD in Computer Information Systems at Georgia State University – Interest in Action Research for Software Development Lars Mathiassen – PhD in Informatics at Oslo Univerity, Norway – Senior IEEE member Roy D. Johson – 2 post docs in management of information systems 2

Agenda What is Requirements Engineering Challenges Goals Background 3

What is Requirements Engineering? Also known as Systematic requirements analysis – Gathering – Capture or – Specification According to Laplante (2007) – “a subdiscipline of systems engineering and software engineering that is concerned with determining the goals, functions, and constraints of hardware and software systems.” Covers of aspects in development life cycle of requirements in – Discovery – Documentation – Maintenance 4

Type of assessments Inductive or problem-based – Consider stakeholder perception as important knowledge – Centers improvements on specific strengths and weaknesses of existing processes Prescriptive or model-based – Centers improvements on best practices on industry 5

Methods of Assessment Analyzing the RE-related data from generic software process assessments Applying an RE-specific version of the SW-CMM Measuring adherence to the best practices based on a dedicated RE maturity model Scores (Requirements Engineering Good Practice Guide (REGPG) – Initial (level 1) – Repeatable (level 2) – Defined (level 3) 6

Challenges Assessment – Specificity (uncover improvement problems) – Comparability (against best practices) – Accuracy (representation of characteristics) How can stakeholder perceptions and process prescriptions be combined during assessment to effectively balance specificity, comparability, and accuracy challenges in RE process improvement? 7

How stakeholder perception can help out Can provide information on traditions that shape practices within a certain company Can help prioritize the actions in the company Can increase commitment of subsequent changes 8

Proposed Method Combining prescription with perception Prescription – Can make comparison among companies – Support structured and easy-to-adopt assessment – Immediate recommendations for improvement Perception – Understand characteristics and priorities of company – Recommendations to company context – Increase buy in and facilitate successful implementation 9

Steps for the new method Initialize assessment Execute multiple inquiry cycles Recommend upon findings 10

Concerns (Step 1) Establish commitments Select strategy Develop assessment plan – agree on overall inquiry cycles 11

Concerns (Step 2) Engage stakeholders Collect data – Documents – Observations – Interviews – Workshops Analyze data Debate findings 12

Concerns (Step 3) Appreciate context Prioritize recommendations Develop improvement plan – Provide evidence of improvement – Areas to be improved – Establish teams 13

Industrial Case Study Collaboration of TeleSoft and Center for Process Innovation at Georgia State University Investigate real world context Evaluate impact Perceive benefit 14

Approaches of action research Process model – Iterative – Reflective – Linear Structure – Rigorous – Fluid Typical involvement – Collaborative – Facilitative – Experimental Primary goals – Organizational development – System design – Scientific knowledge – Training 15

Learning Cycle Diagnostic Planning Executing Evaluating Specifying learning 16

Team composition Steering Committee (SC) Problem Solving Team (PST) Research Team 17

Pre-Assessment Software development perceptions – Requirement document, activities, open-ended Internal customer perception – Interviews – Workshops for validating REGPG – requirements documents, requirements elicitation, requirements analysis and negotiation, describing requirements, system modeling, requirements validation, requirements management, and requirements engineering for critical systems External customer perception – Interviews 18

Post-Assessment Participant perceptions (with Software Process Improvement) – SPI Impact, Organization, and Perceptions Software Development Questionnaire – Overall initiative, software policies, modified process, and templates – Open-ended questions (for additional details) REGPG – Compared with previous REGPG 19

Recommendations Obtained Continue having the PST to meet for monitoring improvement Improve project management capability at TelSoft 20

Conclusions RE assessment combined method is good for improving the quality of a company However it is time consuming Not appropriate for small companies – It may not be needed since good communication is achievable – Adjustments can be easily be made – Everybody is aware of each other work The industrial case gave strength to the method accuracy 21

References Combining Perceptions and Prescriptions in Requirements Engineering Process Assessment: An Industrial Case Study (IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, vol. 35, issue 5, pp , Sept.-Oct. 2009) 22

Questions 23