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An Industrial Case Study on Test Cases as Requirements

Bjarnason, Elizabeth LU orcid ; Unterkalmsteiner, Michael ; Engström, Emelie LU orcid and Borg, Markus LU (2015) Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming 16th International Conference, XP 2015 In Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing 212.
Abstract
It is a conundrum that agile projects can succeed ‘without requirements’ when

weak requirements engineering is a known cause for project failures. While

Agile development projects often manage well without extensive requirements

documentation, test cases are commonly used as requirements. We have

investigated this agile practice at three companies in order to understand how

test cases can fill the role of requirements. We performed a case study based

on twelve interviews performed in a previous study. The findings include a

range of benefits and challenges in using test cases for eliciting, validating,

verifying, tracing and managing requirements. In addition, we... (More)
It is a conundrum that agile projects can succeed ‘without requirements’ when

weak requirements engineering is a known cause for project failures. While

Agile development projects often manage well without extensive requirements

documentation, test cases are commonly used as requirements. We have

investigated this agile practice at three companies in order to understand how

test cases can fill the role of requirements. We performed a case study based

on twelve interviews performed in a previous study. The findings include a

range of benefits and challenges in using test cases for eliciting, validating,

verifying, tracing and managing requirements. In addition, we identified three

scenarios for applying the practice, namely as a mature practice, as a de facto

practice and as part of an agile transition. The findings provide insights into

how the role of requirements may be met in agile development including

challenges to consider. (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
keywords
Behaviour-driven development, Agile development, Acceptance test, Require-ments and Test Alignment, Case study
host publication
Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming : 16th International Conference, XP 2015, Helsinki, Finland, May 25-29, 2015, Proceedings - 16th International Conference, XP 2015, Helsinki, Finland, May 25-29, 2015, Proceedings
series title
Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing
volume
212
pages
12 pages
publisher
Springer
conference name
Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming 16th International Conference, XP 2015
conference location
Helsinki, Finland
conference dates
2015-05-25 - 2015-05-29
external identifiers
  • scopus:84942798244
ISSN
1865-1356
1865-1348
ISBN
978-3-319-18611-5
978-3-319-18612-2
DOI
10.1007/978-3-319-18612-2_3
project
Embedded Applications Software Engineering
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
069340e1-a18e-4bb1-86a6-6b1d3a116a92 (old id 5104528)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 14:29:46
date last changed
2024-02-14 15:26:03
@inproceedings{069340e1-a18e-4bb1-86a6-6b1d3a116a92,
  abstract     = {{It is a conundrum that agile projects can succeed ‘without requirements’ when<br/><br>
weak requirements engineering is a known cause for project failures. While<br/><br>
Agile development projects often manage well without extensive requirements<br/><br>
documentation, test cases are commonly used as requirements. We have<br/><br>
investigated this agile practice at three companies in order to understand how<br/><br>
test cases can fill the role of requirements. We performed a case study based<br/><br>
on twelve interviews performed in a previous study. The findings include a<br/><br>
range of benefits and challenges in using test cases for eliciting, validating,<br/><br>
verifying, tracing and managing requirements. In addition, we identified three<br/><br>
scenarios for applying the practice, namely as a mature practice, as a de facto<br/><br>
practice and as part of an agile transition. The findings provide insights into<br/><br>
how the role of requirements may be met in agile development including<br/><br>
challenges to consider.}},
  author       = {{Bjarnason, Elizabeth and Unterkalmsteiner, Michael and Engström, Emelie and Borg, Markus}},
  booktitle    = {{Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming : 16th International Conference, XP 2015, Helsinki, Finland, May 25-29, 2015, Proceedings}},
  isbn         = {{978-3-319-18611-5}},
  issn         = {{1865-1356}},
  keywords     = {{Behaviour-driven development; Agile development; Acceptance test; Require-ments and Test Alignment; Case study}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing}},
  title        = {{An Industrial Case Study on Test Cases as Requirements}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18612-2_3}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/978-3-319-18612-2_3}},
  volume       = {{212}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}