A Critical Analysis of Requirement Management in Agile Development

Abstract

AbstractAgile software development (agile SD) has evolved and originated to solve the issues of industries due to several changes in the requirements. Industries have also recognized and acknowledged this reality. In addition, with the suitable process alignment and control, changing or evolving requirements could be efficiently solved and managed for satisfying the project stakeholders through agile method. Hence, this study attempts to review requirement management (RM) in agile environment which is a significant part that confirms the successful accomplishment of goals pertaining to the product development. Requirement prioritization (RP) is important to assure RM as it improvises planning, scheduling and budget control. This study analyses RP in agile. The study also discusses the uses of agile requirement engineering. A comparative analysis is carried out to analyse various RM steps pursued in different agile software development (SD) methods and quality requirement (QR) management practices relying on agile environment. Several agile SD methods considered for analysis include SCRUM, lean software development (LSD), Kanban, dynamic system development method (DSDM), extreme programming (XP), feature driven development (FDD), adaptive software development (ASD) and agile unified process (AUP). On the other hand, various QR management practices considered for analysis include client engagement, direct interaction, provisioning user stories, uninterrupted planning, combining the requirement analysis, review meetings, etc. This study also discusses the RM challenges in agile methodology by analysing various existing methods. Hence, this study affords detailed information associated with current traditional RM practices that will assist the software practitioners to choose appropriate methods in agile SD for handling persistent requirement changes.KeywordsRequirement managementSoftware developmentAgileRequirement prioritization (RP)Quality requirement (QR)