05 Fakultät Informatik, Elektrotechnik und Informationstechnik

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://elib.uni-stuttgart.de/handle/11682/6

Browse

Institute: search.filters.UBSInstitut.Fakultätsübergreifend / Sonstige EinrichtungAuthor: search.filters.author.Kalinowski, Marcos

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Towards guidelines for preventing critical requirements engineering problems
    (2016) Mafra, Priscilla; Kalinowski, Marcos; Méndez Ferández, Daniel; Felderer, Michael; Wagner, Stefan
    [Context] Problems in Requirements Engineering (RE) can lead to serious consequences during the software development lifecycle. [Goal] The goal of this paper is to propose empirically-based guidelines that can be used by different types of organisations according to their size (small, medium or large) and process model (agile or plan-driven) to help them in preventing such problems. [Method] We analysed data from a survey on RE problems answered by 228 organisations in 10 different countries. [Results] We identified the most critical RE problems, their causes and mitigation actions, organizing this information by clusters of size and process model. Finally, we analysed the causes and mitigation actions of the critical problems of each cluster to get further insights into how to prevent them. [Conclusions] Based on our results, we suggest preliminary guidelines for preventing critical RE problems in response to context characteristics of the companies.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Naming the pain in requirements engineering: comparing practices in Brazil and Germany
    (2015) Méndez Fernández, Daniel; Wagner, Stefan; Kalinowski, Marcos; Schekelmann, André; Tuzcu, Ahmet; Conte, Tayana; Spinola, Rodrigo; Prikladnicki, Rafael
    As part of the Naming the Pain in Requirements Engineering (NaPiRE) initiative, researchers compared problems that companies in Brazil and Germany encountered during requirements engineering (RE). The key takeaway was that in RE, human interaction is necessary for eliciting and specifying high-quality requirements, regardless of country, project type, or company size.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Status quo in requirements engineering: a theory and a global family of surveys
    (2019) Wagner, Stefan; Méndez Fernández, Daniel; Felderer, Michael; Vetrò, Antonio; Kalinowski, Marcos; Wieringa, Roel; Pfahl, Dietmar; Conte, Tayana; Christiansson, Marie-Therese; Greer, Desmond; Lassenius, Casper; Männistö, Tomi; Nayebi, Maleknaz; Oivo, Markku; Penzenstadler, Birgit; Prikladnicki, Rafael; Ruhe, Guenther; Schekelmann, André; Sen, Sagar; Spínola, Rodrigo; Tuzcu, Ahmed; Vara, Jose Luis de la; Winkler, Dieter
    Requirements Engineering (RE) has established itself as a software engineering discipline over the past decades. While researchers have been investigating the RE discipline with a plethora of empirical studies, attempts to systematically derive an empirical theory in context of the RE discipline have just recently been started. However, such a theory is needed if we are to define and motivate guidance in performing high quality RE research and practice. We aim at providing an empirical and externally valid foundation for a theory of RE practice, which helps software engineers establish effective and efficient RE processes in a problem-driven manner. We designed a survey instrument and an engineer-focused theory that was first piloted in Germany and, after making substantial modifications, has now been replicated in 10 countries worldwide. We have a theory in the form of a set of propositions inferred from our experiences and available studies, as well as the results from our pilot study in Germany. We evaluate the propositions with bootstrapped confidence intervals and derive potential explanations for the propositions. In this article, we report on the design of the family of surveys, its underlying theory, and the full results obtained from the replication studies conducted in 10 countries with participants from 228 organisations. Our results represent a substantial step forward towards developing an empirical theory of RE practice. The results reveal, for example, that there are no strong differences between organisations in different countries and regions, that interviews, facilitated meetings and prototyping are the most used elicitation techniques, that requirements are often documented textually, that traces between requirements and code or design documents are common, that requirements specifications themselves are rarely changed and that requirements engineering (process) improvement endeavours are mostly internally driven. Our study establishes a theory that can be used as starting point for many further studies for more detailed investigations. Practitioners can use the results as theory-supported guidance on selecting suitable RE methods and techniques.