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- Bjarnason, Elizabeth, et al.
(författare)
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Challenges and practices in aligning requirements with verification and validation : a case study of six companies
- 2014
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Ingår i: Empirical Software Engineering. - : Springer. - 1382-3256 .- 1573-7616. ; 19:6, s. 1809-1855
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 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.
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- Loconsole, Annabella, et al.
(författare)
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An Industrial Case Study on Requirements Volatility Measures
- 2005
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Ingår i: Proceeding of APSEC: 12th IEEE Asia Pacific Software Engineering Conference. ; , s. 845-
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Requirements volatility is an important risk factor for software projects. Software measures can help in quantifying and predicting this risk. In this paper, we present an industrial case study that investigated measures of volatility for a medium size software project. The goal of the study was twofold: 1) to empirically validate a set of measures associated with the volatility of use case models (UCM); 2) to investigate the correlation between subjective and objective volatility. Measurement data was collected in retrospect for all use case models of the software project. In addition, we determined subjective volatility by interviewing stakeholders of the project. Our data analysis showed a high correlation between our measures of size of UCM and total number of changes, indicating that the measures of size of UCMs are good indicators of requirements volatility. No correlations was found between subjective and objective volatility. These results suggest that project managers at this company should measure their projects because of the risk to take wrong decisions based on their own and the developer´s perceptions.
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| 8. |
- Loconsole, Annabella, et al.
(författare)
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Are Size Measures Better than Expert Opinion? An Industrial Case Study on Requirements Volatility
- 2007
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the 14th Asia-Pacific Software Engineering Conference (APSEC'07). ; , s. 577-
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Expert judgment is a common estimation approach in industry. However, there is very little research on the accuracy of expert judgment outside the area of effort estimation. In this paper, we present an industrial case study investigating subjective and objective measures of requirements volatility. Data was collected in retrospect for all use cases of a medium-size software project. In addition, we determined subjective volatility by interviewing developers and managers of the project. Our data analysis show that structural measures perform better than expert judgment in estimating the total number of changes to use case based requirements. These results confirm results from a previous case study by the authors and suggest that project managers should not rely on expert judgment alone for decision making.
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- Loconsole, Annabella, et al.
(författare)
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Comparing the CDIO educational framework with University West’s WIL certification: do they complement each other?
- 2021
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Ingår i: VILÄR. - 9789189325036 ; , s. 15-16
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Higher education institutions (HEIs) need to continuously improve their quality to prepare the students to the society of the 21st Century. They need to develop efficient ways of collaborating with various partners in the surrounding community. Close ties with business and industry, and diversity among staff and students are necessary, especially within engineering education. An engineering degree should prepare students to develop a wide range of knowledge and skills. These range from technical, scientific, and mathematical knowledge but also soft skills such as teamwork, business skills and critical analysis, which are also central sustainability competences. It is vital that learning for engineers takes place in the context of authentic engineering problems and processes to develop these skills and to put theory into practice. Several initiatives focused on incorporating these skills in higher education exists. CDIO (Conceive, Design, Implement, Operate) is one of the most prominent initiatives within engineering education. CDIO targets the typical tasks an engineer performs when bringing new systems, products and services to the market or the society. The CDIO initiative was created to strengthen active and problem-based learning and improving students' communication and professional skills. CDIO focus on improving practical and work-related skills to better prepare engineering students for their future professional life.University West employs another initiative, Arbetsintegrerat lärande (AIL), which “roughly” translates to Work Integrated Learning (WIL). WIL shares much of the same philosophy as CDIO. All programs at University West are currently undergoing an AIL-certification process. For engineering programs, that have been working with CDIO, it is interesting to compare them. It is currently unclear how they differ. In this study we compare the CDIO educational framework with the WIL-certification through a series of workshops to identify in which areas they overlap and which areas they differ. Would a program that has adopted the CDIO educational framework automatically fulfill the WIL-certification?
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