Causes and Mitigation Practices of Requirement Volatility in Agile Software Development

IF 3.4 Q2 COMPUTER SCIENCE, INTERDISCIPLINARY APPLICATIONS

Informatics Pub Date : 2024-03-13 DOI:10.3390/informatics11010012

Abdul-Ameer S. Mohammad, Job Mathew Kollamana

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Abstract

One of the main obstacles in software development projects is requirement volatility (RV), which is defined as uncertainty or changes in software requirements during the development process. Therefore, this research tries to understand the underlying factors behind the RV and the best practices to reduce it. The methodology used for this research is based upon qualitative research using interviews with 12 participants with experience in agile software development projects. The participants hailed from Austria, Nigeria, the USA, the Philippines, Armenia, Sri Lanka, Germany, Egypt, Canada, and Turkey and held roles such as project managers, software developers, Scrum Masters, testers, business analysts, and product owners. Our findings based on our empirical data revealed six primary factors that cause RV and three main agile practices that help to mitigate it. Theoretically, this study contributes to the body of knowledge relating to RV management. Practically, this research is expected to aid software development teams in comprehending the reasons behind RV and the best practices to effectively minimize it.

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敏捷软件开发中需求波动的原因和缓解措施

需求波动性（RV）是软件开发项目的主要障碍之一，它被定义为软件需求在开发过程中的不确定性或变化。因此，本研究试图了解 RV 背后的潜在因素以及减少 RV 的最佳做法。本研究采用的方法基于定性研究，对 12 位具有敏捷软件开发项目经验的参与者进行了访谈。这些参与者来自奥地利、尼日利亚、美国、菲律宾、亚美尼亚、斯里兰卡、德国、埃及、加拿大和土耳其，分别担任项目经理、软件开发人员、Scrum Master、测试人员、业务分析师和产品负责人等职务。我们根据经验数据得出的结论揭示了导致 RV 的六个主要因素，以及有助于缓解 RV 的三个主要敏捷实践。从理论上讲，本研究为有关 RV 管理的知识体系做出了贡献。在实践中，这项研究有望帮助软件开发团队理解 RV 背后的原因以及有效减少 RV 的最佳实践。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Informatics Social Sciences-Communication

CiteScore

6.60

自引率

6.50%

发文量

审稿时长

6 weeks