Documentation of quality requirements in agile software development

TL;DR

This paper investigates how quality requirements are documented in agile software development through empirical case studies, revealing diverse practices tailored to specific project needs.

Contribution

It provides empirical insights into current documentation practices of QRs in ASD, highlighting tools and approaches used by practitioners.

Findings

Practitioners adapt QR documentation to their specific context.

Various tools and methods, including backlogs and prototypes, are employed.

Documentation practices vary significantly across organizations.

Abstract

Context: Quality requirements (QRs) have a significant role in the success of software projects. In agile software development (ASD), where working software is valued over comprehensive documentation, QRs are often under-specified or not documented. Consequently, they may be handled improperly and result in degraded software quality and increased maintenance costs. Investigating the documentation of QRs in ASD, would provide evidence on existing practices, tools and aspects considered in ASD that other practitioners might utilize to improve documentation and management of QRs in ASD. Although there are some studies examining documentation in ASD, those that specifically investigate the documentation of QRs in depth are lacking. Method: we conducted a multiple case study by interviewing 15 practitioners of four ASD cases, to provide empirical evidence on documentation of QRs in ASD. We also run workshops with two of the cases, to identify important aspects that ASD practitioners consider when documenting QRs in requirements management repositories. Result and conclusions: ASD companies approach documentation of QRs to fit the needs of their context. They used tools, backlogs,iterative prototypes,... Please refer to the PDF document for the remaining part of the abstract and the rest of the paper