Supporting Release Planning of Quality Requirements: The Quality Performance Model
(2011)- Abstract
- In a competitive environment, as experienced by market-driven organizations, it is important to plan software product releases with time-to-market in mind. To increase the chances of market success, software products need to be released to the market, not only at the right time, but also with higher level of quality than the competitors' products. Thus quality requirements can be seen as a key competitive advantage. An especially challenging problem for an organization that develops software products offered to a market is to set the right quality target in relation to future market demands and competitor products. When is the quality level a competitive advantage? The goal of this thesis is to increase the awareness and understanding of... (More)
- In a competitive environment, as experienced by market-driven organizations, it is important to plan software product releases with time-to-market in mind. To increase the chances of market success, software products need to be released to the market, not only at the right time, but also with higher level of quality than the competitors' products. Thus quality requirements can be seen as a key competitive advantage. An especially challenging problem for an organization that develops software products offered to a market is to set the right quality target in relation to future market demands and competitor products. When is the quality level a competitive advantage? The goal of this thesis is to increase the awareness and understanding of quality requirements, and to find means for improving the ability to make early estimates of quality requirements, e.g., performance requirements, in order to enhance high-level decision-making related to release planning and roadmapping.
This thesis is based on empirical research using a flexible research design. The research contains two qualitative surveys of quality requirements challenges in market-driven software product development organizations based on interviews with practitioners. From these surveys, issues emerge such as when the quality level is good enough, and how to get quality requirements into projects when functional requirements are prioritized. A case study within the embedded software domain investigates how quality requirements are classified and specified (including quantification) in an industrial context, which concludes that for a method to be successful, it is important that the method itself is flexible enough to handle the diverse nature of quality requirements. A model called QUPER (QUality PERformance) is evolved and evaluated in two organizations. The model aims at supporting release planning of quality requirements, and was found relevant by both organizations. Finally, a prototype tool for the QUPER model was developed and evaluated in a software organization. The QUPER prototype tool was found to provide a clear overview of the current market situation by the generated roadmaps, and to reach an alignment between practitioners, e.g., product managers and developers, of what level of quality is actually needed. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Popular Abstract in Swedish
Kravhantering
är
en
process
för
att
identifiera,
specificera,
och
underhålla
krav
för
en
produkt.
Om
du
inte
har
rätt
krav,
spelar
det
ingen
roll
hur
bra
allt
annat
görs.
Detta
kan
sluta
med
en
perfekt
utveckling
av
fel
produkt
som
kunderna
inte
vill
ha.
I
marknadsdriven
... (More) - Popular Abstract in Swedish
Kravhantering
är
en
process
för
att
identifiera,
specificera,
och
underhålla
krav
för
en
produkt.
Om
du
inte
har
rätt
krav,
spelar
det
ingen
roll
hur
bra
allt
annat
görs.
Detta
kan
sluta
med
en
perfekt
utveckling
av
fel
produkt
som
kunderna
inte
vill
ha.
I
marknadsdriven
kravhantering,
där
det
inte
finns
en
specifik
kund,
är
strategisk
releaseplanering
en
viktig
process.
Strategisk
releaseplanering
handlar
om
urval
och
tilldelning
av
krav
i
sekvenser
av
utgåvor
produkter.
Det
är
svårt
att
skapa
en
releaseplan
för
produkter
på
grund
av
begränsningar
och
osäkerheter.
Det
blir
ännu
svårare
när
en
releaseplan
för
kvaliteten
på
produkten
skall
skapas.
Är
lite
bättre
kvalitet
nästan
lika
värdefullt
från
ett
marknadsperspektiv?
Är
lite
bättre
kvalitet
avsevärt
mycket
dyrare
att
implementera?
Den
här
avhandlingen
består
av
två
delar.
Först
beskrivs
utmaningar
för
att
hantera
kvalitetskrav
i
industrin.
Andra
delen
beskriver
och
testar
en
modell
med
verktygsstöd
som
stödjer
releaseplanering
av
produkternas
kvalitet.
Den
största
utmaning
i
industrin
är
att
kvalitetskrav
inte
är
med
från
första
början
i
produktplaneringen
eftersom
de
ofta
har
lägre
prioritet
än
ny
funktionalitet.
Kvalitetskraven
prioriteras
enbart
om
tid
och
resurser
finns
tillgängligt
efter
det
att
all
funktionalitet
har
blivit
implementerad.
Detta
kan
medföra
att
produktledarna
in
kan
planera
och
förlita
sig
på
kvalitetskraven
för
att
uppnå
konkurrensfördelar.
De
initiala
testerna
av
modellen
och
verktyget
visar
att
den
är
relevant
som
stöd
för
beslutsfattandet
av
en
produkts
kvalitetsnivå.
Speciellt
uppskattat
är
visualiseringen
av
en
roadmap
för
en
produkts
kvalitetsmål
i
förhållande
till
nuvarande
marknadssituation
och
konkurrenternas
nuvarande
kvalitet. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/2166458
- author
- Berntsson Svensson, Richard LU
- supervisor
- opponent
-
- Professor Wieringa, Roel, Information Systems, University of Twente, Netherlands
- organization
- publishing date
- 2011
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- defense location
- Lecture hall E:1406, E-building, Ole Römers väg 3, Lund University Faculty of Engineering
- defense date
- 2011-10-21 13:15:00
- ISBN
- 978-91-976939-4-3
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 6cb074a3-40c7-4d74-9e5c-a7746c1ab0da (old id 2166458)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-04 12:51:51
- date last changed
- 2021-04-29 09:44:25
@phdthesis{6cb074a3-40c7-4d74-9e5c-a7746c1ab0da,
abstract = {{In a competitive environment, as experienced by market-driven organizations, it is important to plan software product releases with time-to-market in mind. To increase the chances of market success, software products need to be released to the market, not only at the right time, but also with higher level of quality than the competitors' products. Thus quality requirements can be seen as a key competitive advantage. An especially challenging problem for an organization that develops software products offered to a market is to set the right quality target in relation to future market demands and competitor products. When is the quality level a competitive advantage? The goal of this thesis is to increase the awareness and understanding of quality requirements, and to find means for improving the ability to make early estimates of quality requirements, e.g., performance requirements, in order to enhance high-level decision-making related to release planning and roadmapping.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
This thesis is based on empirical research using a flexible research design. The research contains two qualitative surveys of quality requirements challenges in market-driven software product development organizations based on interviews with practitioners. From these surveys, issues emerge such as when the quality level is good enough, and how to get quality requirements into projects when functional requirements are prioritized. A case study within the embedded software domain investigates how quality requirements are classified and specified (including quantification) in an industrial context, which concludes that for a method to be successful, it is important that the method itself is flexible enough to handle the diverse nature of quality requirements. A model called QUPER (QUality PERformance) is evolved and evaluated in two organizations. The model aims at supporting release planning of quality requirements, and was found relevant by both organizations. Finally, a prototype tool for the QUPER model was developed and evaluated in a software organization. The QUPER prototype tool was found to provide a clear overview of the current market situation by the generated roadmaps, and to reach an alignment between practitioners, e.g., product managers and developers, of what level of quality is actually needed.}},
author = {{Berntsson Svensson, Richard}},
isbn = {{978-91-976939-4-3}},
language = {{eng}},
school = {{Lund University}},
title = {{Supporting Release Planning of Quality Requirements: The Quality Performance Model}},
year = {{2011}},
}