Inadequate requirements cause many problems in software products. This paper reports on an experiment to reduce the number of requirement defects. We analysed the present defects in a real-life product and estimated the likely effect of 44 prevention techniques. We had hoped a novel combination of techniques would come up, but the best approach was quite well known, although new to the company: study the user tasks better, make early prototypes of the user interface, and test them for usability. This approach was tried out in a new development project in the same company. Due to the new approach, there was no doubt about requirements during programming, and as a result it became the first project in the company that was completed on time and without stress. Usability was drastically improved, and as a result the product sold twice as many units as similar products, and at twice the unit price.
Both ISO/IEC 15504 (SPICE) and ISO/IEC 33014 include a step in their improvement process called: Develop action plan. But which actions should you include, and are you sure that these actions cover all aspects? We have performed a thorough study of the change strategy literature that is the foundation for the ten overall change strategies defined in ISO/IEC 33014. We have extracted statements from this material that represent generic actions recommended by the authors for each strategy. Through analytic induction we have then identified and validated eight aspects that you should consider when choosing your concrete actions for executing the strategy.
For over a decade, I and a number of other software engineers introduced, developed, improved, and expanded the principle of interpretation for data acquisition and control task descriptions; initially a simple description and execution tool to assist plant engineers, but in the end a software development framework for modeling, managing, and executing large, complex projects in this domain.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.