Requirements engineering challenges and practices in large-scale agile system development

Jennifer Horkoff,Francisco Gomes De Oliveira Neto,Rashidah Kasauli,Grischa Liebel,Eric Knauss

doi:10.1016/j.jss.2020.110851

Jennifer Horkoff, Francisco Gomes De Oliveira Neto + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2020.110851

Copy DOI

Abstract

Context:Agile methods have become mainstream even in large-scale systems engineering companies that need to accommodate different development cycles of hardware and software. For such companies, requirements engineering is an essential activity that involves upfront and detailed analysis which can be at odds with agile development methods. Objective:This paper presents a multiple case study with seven large-scale systems companies, reporting their challenges, together with best practices from industry. We also analyze literature about two popular large-scale agile frameworks, SAFe® and LeSS, to derive potential solutions for the challenges. Methods:Our results are based on 20 qualitative interviews, five focus groups, and eight cross-company workshops which we used to both collect and validate our results. Results:We found 24 challenges which we grouped in six themes, then mapped to solutions from SAFe®, LeSS, and our companies, when available. Conclusion:In this way, we contribute a comprehensive overview of RE challenges in relation to large-scale agile system development, evaluate the degree to which they have been addressed, and outline research gaps. We expect these results to be useful for practitioners who are responsible for designing processes, methods, or tools for large scale agile development as well as guidance for researchers.

Highlights

Despite wide criticism, agile approaches have significantly contributed to the way software is developed (Meyer, 2014)
Additional empirical work is needed to understand the complex phenomenon of agile methods and Requirements Engineering (RE) in the domain of large-scale system development
The study extends our preliminary work presented in Kasauli et al (2017b) as follows:

Summary

Introduction

Agile approaches have significantly contributed to the way software is developed (Meyer, 2014). While initially focused on small teams (Meyer, 2014; Kahkonen, 2004; Beck, 2000; Paasivaara and Lassenius, 2016), success stories have led to their application at large-scale (Dikert et al, 2016; Lagerberg et al, 2013; Salo and Abrahamsson, 2008) and in system development (i.e., large, complex systems which mix software and hardware) (Eklund et al, 2014; Berger and Eklund, 2015; Lagerberg et al, 2013), an environment that is characterized by long lead times (Berger and Eklund, 2015) and stable, sequential engineering practices (Pernstål et al, 2012) These complex, agile environments often involve many challenges which fall under the umbrella of Requirements Engineering (RE), including understanding product value, communicating product purpose, dealing with cross-cutting concerns (Kasauli et al, 2017b), and managing requirements (Savolainen et al, 2010). In this work we report the RErelated challenges of large-scale agile system development and their solution candidates

Objectives

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion