A process practice to validate the quality of reused component documentation: a case study involving open-source components

The poor quality of the documentation of some reused components can jeopardize the success of a project. This paper aims to assess the impact of reused components documentation quality on the effort required to complete a software evolution project and to propose a process practice to reduce the risk associated to the integration of reused components. A case study is based on data gathered from a capstone project requiring a total effort of roughly 1800 person-hours. Participant activities are self-recorded on an hourly basis. The main issues are related to imprecise and inaccurate documentation of the reused open-source components and the extra effort required dealing with these flaws. To maximize components reuse benefits, it is recommended to add a process practice enforcing early reusable components validation. This new practice would provide feedback to the software architect regarding the quality of the selected reused components.