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QUPER-MAn : benchmark-guided target setting for maintainability requirements

Borg, Markus LU ; Larsson, Martin ; Breid, Philip and Hagatulah, Nadim LU orcid (2025) p.29-36
Abstract
Maintainable source code is essential for sustainable development. Yet, many studies show that maintainability often receives less attention than it deserves. We argue that requirements engineering can help close this gap by fostering discussions and setting appropriate targets in a responsible manner. In this preliminary work, we explore industry practices related to requirements engineering for maintainability. Our findings confirm previous studies: maintainability remains a second-class quality concern. Explicit requirements often make sweeping references to coding conventions. Tools providing maintainability proxies are common but typically only used in implicit requirements related to engineering practices. To address this, we propose... (More)
Maintainable source code is essential for sustainable development. Yet, many studies show that maintainability often receives less attention than it deserves. We argue that requirements engineering can help close this gap by fostering discussions and setting appropriate targets in a responsible manner. In this preliminary work, we explore industry practices related to requirements engineering for maintainability. Our findings confirm previous studies: maintainability remains a second-class quality concern. Explicit requirements often make sweeping references to coding conventions. Tools providing maintainability proxies are common but typically only used in implicit requirements related to engineering practices. To address this, we propose QUPER-MAn, a maintainability adaption of the QUPER model, originally developed for performance requirements. Developed using a design science approach, QUPER-MAn integrates maintainability benchmarks and supports target setting. We posit that it can shift maintainability from an overlooked development consequence to an actively managed goal driven by informed and responsible engineering decisions. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
host publication
ResponsibleSE '25 : Proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on Responsible Software Engineering - Proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on Responsible Software Engineering
pages
29 - 36
publisher
Association for Computing Machinery
external identifiers
  • scopus:105012244044
ISBN
979-8-4007-1461-0
DOI
10.1145/3711919.3728680
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
42715938-7de4-4544-93bc-3f7f3f0546bb
date added to LUP
2025-08-18 13:34:53
date last changed
2025-10-14 11:34:51
@inproceedings{42715938-7de4-4544-93bc-3f7f3f0546bb,
  abstract     = {{Maintainable source code is essential for sustainable development. Yet, many studies show that maintainability often receives less attention than it deserves. We argue that requirements engineering can help close this gap by fostering discussions and setting appropriate targets in a responsible manner. In this preliminary work, we explore industry practices related to requirements engineering for maintainability. Our findings confirm previous studies: maintainability remains a second-class quality concern. Explicit requirements often make sweeping references to coding conventions. Tools providing maintainability proxies are common but typically only used in implicit requirements related to engineering practices. To address this, we propose QUPER-MAn, a maintainability adaption of the QUPER model, originally developed for performance requirements. Developed using a design science approach, QUPER-MAn integrates maintainability benchmarks and supports target setting. We posit that it can shift maintainability from an overlooked development consequence to an actively managed goal driven by informed and responsible engineering decisions.}},
  author       = {{Borg, Markus and Larsson, Martin and Breid, Philip and Hagatulah, Nadim}},
  booktitle    = {{ResponsibleSE '25 : Proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on Responsible Software Engineering}},
  isbn         = {{979-8-4007-1461-0}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{06}},
  pages        = {{29--36}},
  publisher    = {{Association for Computing Machinery}},
  title        = {{QUPER-MAn : benchmark-guided target setting for maintainability requirements}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/225587256/RespSE25_QUPERMAn.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1145/3711919.3728680}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}