A Requirements Engineering Process Adapted to Global Software Development (original) (raw)
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Journal of Software, 2018
Global software development (GSD), where software teams are located in different parts of the world, has become increasingly popular. However, GSD involves issues such as geographical distance, cultural diversities, differences in time zones, and language barriers amongst stakeholders, making it different from collocated software development, and requirements engineering (RE) is very much affected by these issues. To examine what stakeholders think about the impact of these factors on the different activities of RE in a GSD environment, we have conducted a survey among organizations located in different parts of the world which were involved in GSD. In this paper, we present the findings of the survey. The survey pointed to the facts that stakeholders are not very aware of the risks and challenges associated with GSD, that stakeholders are not clear about how the geographical dispersion of development teams could affect the RE process, and that the lack of RE methods for GSD makes stakeholders use the conventional techniques and approaches of RE that do not consider the factors involved in GSD. The findings of our study will enable readers to gain a better understanding of what different groups of stakeholders think about RE in GSD.
A Requirements Management Method for Global Software Development
To perform requirements management, effective communication and collaboration between stakeholders is necessary. Global Software Development (GSD), where software teams are located in different parts of the world, has become increasingly popular. However, geographical distance between stakeholders creates difficulties for stakeholders in engaging in effective communication. Taking into consideration the factors involved in GSD, previous research shows that the ways by which requirements management is being performed in collocated software development projects cannot be used effectively for GSD projects. To address this issue, in this paper we present a requirements management method for GSD. The method consists of four stages: (1) establishing and maintaining a requirements repository; (2) generating a requirements traceability matrix; (3) communicating and discussing requirements; and (4) requirements change management. To validate our method, we implemented it in a controlled laboratory environment using a case study of an online shopping system.
Proc. of the 5th SIMPROS–Simpósio Internacional de Melhoria de Processo de Software, Pernambuco, 2003
Abstract. The requirements engineering is an important phase in the software development process. In geographically distributed environments (Global Software Development), requirements become critical due to the characteristics of the distributed development (physical distance, cultural differences, trust, communication, etc). The objective of this paper is to analyze the requirements engineering in geographically distributed environments, identifying the main challenges. The results are based on a case study carried on at Dell ...
Risk Generating Situations of Requirement Engineering in Global Software Development
Challenges of Requirements Engineering (RE) become adequate when it is performed in global software development (GSD) paradigm. "Risks" are the important elements for making RE more challenging. For having its in depth understanding, first there is a need to identify those factors which may generate risks during RE in GSD. Therefore a systematic literature review is done. The initial list leads to progressive enhancement for assisting in RE activities in GSD paradigm. This work is especially useful for the, less experience people working in GSD.
IEEE Access
The software organizations are outsourcing their development activities across the geographical border due to huge business gains. However, the adoption of the global software development (GSD) paradigm is not straightforward; various challenges are associated with it, particularly related to the requirements engineering (RE) process. The objective of this study is to identify the barriers to the RE process faced during GSD. To achieve this, we have conducted a systematic mapping study and questionnaire survey to identify and validate the barriers of the RE process with industry practitioners. A total of 20 barriers were identified and validated with the experts. Moreover, we have performed organization types (client and vendor), organization size (small, medium, and large) and experts' levels (junior, intermediate, and senior) based analysis to provide a clear understanding of the RE barriers in the three different context. Besides, we have also developed a theoretical framework by mapping the investigated barriers into six core knowledge areas of software process improvement. The mapping results indicated that project administration is the most significant knowledge area of investigated barriers. We believe that the findings of this study will provide a framework that assists the GSD practitioners in developing an effective plan and strategies to improve the RE process in the GSD context. INDEX TERMS Global software development, requirements engineering (RE), empirical investigation, client, vendor.
A Systematic Approach for Requirement Elicitation in Globally Distributed Software Development
Globally Distributed Software Development (GDSD) has different characteristics that make it different from traditional software development. These characteristics are directly affecting the requirement engineering process which is most crucial step in software development phase. GDSD trend is rapidly increasing for few years, and demanding an investigation on requirement engineering in multi site organization.
2021
There is a need to identify requirements engineering (RE) practices that are important to global software development (GSD) project success. The objective of this paper is to report our recent empirical study results which aimed to identify the RE practices that are important to GSD projects. This study used an online survey questionnaire to elicit data from 56 RE experts of GSD projects. The survey included 66 RE practices identified by Sommerville et al. for non-GSD projects. The participants were asked to rank each RE practice on a four-point scale to determine the degree of importance of each practice in the context of GSD projects. This research identified a set of six key RE practices that mainly focuses on GSD project stakeholders, scope, standards and requirements traceability management. One common theme that is evident from the RE experts’ feedback analysis is the standardization of requirements documents to reduce requirements inconsistencies and improve communication in ...
Distributed Requirements Specification: Minimizing the Effect of Geographic Dispersion
2004
Requirements specification is an important phase of the requirements engineering area in the software development process. In geographically distributed environments, this phase becomes critical due to the characteristics of the distributed development (physical and temporal distance, cultural differences, trust, communication, etc). The objective of this paper is to analyze the requirements specification in geographically distributed environments, identifying the main challenges and proposing a process to minimize the impacts of this scenario. The results are based on a case study carried on a multinational organization that has software development units in multiple countries, and was recognized as a SW-CMM level 2 organization in 2 of them. The results suggest the necessity to adapt the requirements specification phase to the distributed software development environment, addressing the main existing challenges. The problems and the solutions adopted are presented, aiming to relate these solutions to the organization distribution level, considering where the project team, users and customers are located.
IEEE Access, 2021
Global Software Development (GSD) is widely used by software development organizations to ensure the development of a cost-effective software product. GSD has now become a common engineering practice adopted by a significant number of multinational software development organizations, and even individuals (freelancers) are seeking numerous benefits including low development cost, highly skilled workers, and access to better development ideas. However, communication and coordination challenges remain a prominent research issue in the GSD context, while performing different project-related activities especially for Requirements Change Management (RCM). As a result, improper communication and coordination during RCM require additional time, cost, and development resources. Thus, it is of vital importance to ensure proper communication and coordination before initiating a software project. Inspired by this, current work aims at exploring and mitigating the communication and coordination challenges during RCM in the GSD context. To accomplish the targeted research objective, we performed a tertiary study to provide a landscape of the challenges that occurred during RCM in the context of GSD. Based on the performed study, we found 62 communication and 14 coordination challenges. In total, 107 mitigation strategies are explored and reported that effectively address the categorized sub-challenges of communication and coordination. Moreover, we proposed a conceptual model useful to address the communication and coordination challenges for the RCM process in GSD. Furthermore, we consulted the domain experts for the validation of the proposed conceptual model. Based on the promising results, we believe that this work supports the project managers in managing the cost and time-related issues in the GSD context. Consequently, the proposed conceptual model would help in optimally utilizing the scared software development resources. INDEX TERMS Global software development, requirements change management, communication and coordination challenges, mitigation strategy, tertiary study.
An Improved Framework for Requirement Change Management in Global Software Development
Journal of Software Engineering and Applications, 2014
In this research, an improved framework for requirement change management in global software development (RCM_GSD) has been presented. The objective is to manage the change in requirement specifically in global software development in an appropriate manner. The proposed framework RCM_GSD follows the required processes of RCM and reduces the concerns of GSD. Systematic Literature Review (SLR) was conducted for exploration of relevant research. During literature study, it is analyzed that the existing techniques of change management were not suitable for global software development (GSD). The change in requirements becomes more complicated in distributed environment due to the lack of communication and collaboration among globally dispersed stakeholders. The proposed model is compared with other models proposed in recent literature and analysis is made between them; feedback was obtained from the domain experts as well. The feedback and comparison results show that the proposed model provides an appropriate solution for requirement change management in GSD.