arXiv subjects

Daniel Mendez

Publications and source records attributed to Daniel Mendez.

76 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

What Makes Agile Test Artifacts Useful? An Activity-Based Quality Model from a Practitioners' Perspective

Background: The artifacts used in Agile software testing and the reasons why these artifacts are used are fairly well-understood. However, empirical research on how Agile test artifacts are eventually designed in practice and which quality factors make them useful for software testing remains sparse. Aims: Our objective is two-fold. First, we identify current challenges in using test artifacts to understand why certain quality factors are considered good or bad. Second, we build an Activity-Based Artifact Quality Model that describes what Agile test artifacts should look like. Method: We conduct an industrial survey with 18 practitioners from 12 companies operating in seven different domains. Results: Our analysis reveals nine challenges and 16 factors describing the quality of six test artifacts from the perspective of Agile testers. Interestingly, we observed mostly challenges regarding language and traceability, which are well-known to occur in non-Agile projects. Conclusions: Although Agile software testing is becoming the norm, we still have little confidence about general do's and don'ts going beyond conventional wisdom. This study is the first to distill a list of quality factors deemed important to what can be considered as useful test artifacts.

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arXiv2020

Data-driven Risk Management for Requirements Engineering: An Automated Approach based on Bayesian Networks

Requirements Engineering (RE) is a means to reduce the risk of delivering a product that does not fulfill the stakeholders' needs. Therefore, a major challenge in RE is to decide how much RE is needed and what RE methods to apply. The quality of such decisions is strongly based on the RE expert's experience and expertise in carefully analyzing the context and current state of a project. Recent work, however, shows that lack of experience and qualification are common causes for problems in RE. We trained a series of Bayesian Networks on data from the NaPiRE survey to model relationships between RE problems, their causes, and effects in projects with different contextual characteristics. These models were used to conduct (1) a postmortem (diagnostic) analysis, deriving probable causes of suboptimal RE performance, and (2) to conduct a preventive analysis, predicting probable issues a young project might encounter. The method was subject to a rigorous cross-validation procedure for both use cases before assessing

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arXiv2020

Views on Quality Requirements in Academia and Practice: Commonalities, Differences, and Context-Dependent Grey Areas

Context: Quality requirements (QRs) are a topic of constant discussions both in industry and academia. Debates entwine around the definition of quality requirements, the way how to handle them, or their importance for project success. While many academic endeavors contribute to the body of knowledge about QRs, practitioners may have different views. In fact, we still lack a consistent body of knowledge on QRs since much of the discussion around this topic is still dominated by observations that are strongly context-dependent. This holds for both academic and practitioners' views. Our assumption is that, in consequence, those views may differ. Objective: We report on a study to better understand the extent to which available research statements on quality requirements, as found in exemplary peer-reviewed and frequently cited publications, are reflected in the perception of practitioners. Our goal is to analyze differences, commonalities, and context-dependent grey areas in the views of academics and practitioners to allow a discussion on potential misconceptions (on either sides) and opportunities for future research. Method: We conducted a survey with 109 practitioners to assess whether they agree with research statements about QRs reflected in the literature. Based on a statistical model, we evaluate the impact of a set of context factors to the perception of research statements. Results: Our results show that a majority of the statements is well respected by practitioners; however, not all of them. When examining the different groups and backgrounds of respondents, we noticed interesting deviations of perceptions within different groups that may lead to new research questions. Conclusions: Our results help identifying prevalent context-dependent differences about how academics and practitioners view QRs and pinpointing statements where further research might be useful.

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arXiv2019

On Integrating Design Thinking for a Human-centered Requirements Engineering

In this position paper, we elaborate on the possibilities and needs to integrate Design Thinking into Requirements Engineering. We draw from our research and project experiences to compare what is understood as Design Thinking and Requirements Engineering considering their involved artifacts. We suggest three approaches for tailoring and integrating Design Thinking and Requirements Engineering with complementary synergies and point at open challenges for research and practice.

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