Towards Quantifying Requirements Technical Debt for Software Requirements concerning Veracity: A Perspective and Research Roadmap

TL;DR

This paper explores the concept of Requirements Technical Debt related to veracity in software requirements, aiming to quantify and manage 'Veracity Debt' to improve decision-making and trustworthiness in software systems.

Contribution

It presents a perspective and research roadmap for applying RTD quantification specifically to requirements concerning veracity, an area not extensively addressed before.

Findings

Introduces the concept of Veracity Debt in requirements engineering.

Proposes a research roadmap for quantifying Veracity Debt.

Highlights the importance of managing veracity-related RTD.

Abstract

Software practitioners can make sub-optimal decisions concerning requirements during gathering, documenting, prioritizing, and implementing requirements as software features or architectural design decisions -- this is captured by the metaphor `Requirements Technical Debt (RTD).' In our prior work, we developed a conceptual model to understand the quantification of RTD and support its management. In this paper, we present our perspective and the vision to apply the lens of RTD to software requirements concerning veracity, i.e., requirements related to truth, trust, authenticity, and demonstrability in software-intensive systems. Our goal is to cultivate awareness of veracity as an important concern and eventually support the management of RTD for software requirements concerning veracity, what we term as `Veracity Debt,' through its quantification.