A study of safety documentation in a Scrum development process

Yang, Wen‐Ching; Bogicevic, Ivan; Wagner, Stefan

doi:10.1145/3120459.3120482

Cited by 7 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 11 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Because the discussion should be deep in the safety area, it is not supposed to be established during the normal weekly Scrum meeting. Last but not least, we improve our safety epics and safety stories to support an effective communication [34], as shown in Sect. 4.3 (Optimized S-Scrum).…”

Section: Data Analysis In Stagementioning

confidence: 99%

An Exploratory Study on Applying a Scrum Development Process for Safety-Critical Systems

Wang

Ramadani

Wagner

2017

Product-Focused Software Process Improvement

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Background: Agile techniques recently have received attention from the developers of safety-critical systems. However, a lack of empirical knowledge of performing safety assurance techniques, especially safety analysis in a real agile project hampers further steps. Aims: In this article, we aim at (1) understanding and optimizing the S-Scrum development process, a Scrum extension with the integration of a systems theory based safety analysis technique, STPA (System-Theoretic Process Analysis), for safety-critical systems; (2) validating the Optimized S-Scrum development process further. Method: We conducted a two-stage exploratory case study in a student project at the University of Stuttgart, Germany. Results: The results in stage 1 showed that S-Scrum helps to ensure safety of each release but is less agile than the normal Scrum. We explored six challenges on: priority management; communication; time pressure on determining safety requirements; safety planning; time to perform upfront planning; and safety requirements' acceptance criteria. During stage 2, the safety and agility have been improved after the optimizations, including an internal and an external safety expert; pre-planning meeting; regular safety meeting; an agile safety plan; and improved safety epics and safety stories. We have also gained valuable suggestions from industry, but the generalization problem due to the specific context is still unsolved.

show abstract

Section: Data Analysis In Stagementioning

confidence: 99%

An Exploratory Study on Applying a Scrum Development Process for Safety-Critical Systems

Wang

Ramadani

Wagner

2017

Product-Focused Software Process Improvement

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This might be caused by the culture (as we indicate in challenge 7), the authority problem (as we mentioned in challenge 9) of subsidiaries, or an incomplete and fragment record of safety analysis information (as we mention in challenge 2). Nevertheless, safety analysis related documentation should consider communication [47]. Based on the results from the interviews, we map the purposes with challenges, as shown in Table 4.…”

Section: The Communication Channels Concerning Safety Analysis Lack T...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Communication channels in safety analysis: An industrial exploratory case study

Wang

Graziotin

Kriso

et al. 2019

Journal of Systems and Software

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Context: Safety analysis is a predominant activity in developing safety-critical systems. It is a highly cooperative task among multiple functional departments due to increasingly sophisticated safety-critical systems and close-knit development processes. Communication occurs pervasively. Motivation: Effective communication channels among multiple functional departments influence safety analysis quality as well as a safe product delivery. However, the use of communication channels during safety analysis is sometimes arbitrary and poses challenges. Objective: In this article, we aim to investigate the existing communication channels, their usage frequencies, their purposes and challenges during safety analysis in industry. Method:We conducted a multiple case study by surveying 39 experts and interviewing 21 experts in safety-critical companies including software developers, quality engineers and functional safety managers. Direct observations and documentation review were also conducted. Results: Popular communication channels during safety analysis include formal meetings, project coordination tools, documentation and telephone. Email, personal discussion, training, internal communication software and boards are also in use. Training involving safety analysis happens 1-4 times per year, while other aforementioned communication channels happen ranging from 1-4 times per day to 1-4 times per month. We summarise 28 purposes of using these aforementioned communication channels. Communication happens mostly for the purpose of clarifying safety requirements, fixing temporary problems, conflicts and obstacles and sharing safety knowledge. The top 10 challenges are: (1) sensitiveness and confidentiality of safety analysis information; (2) fragmented safety analysis information;(3) inconsistent safety analysis information; (4) asynchronous channels; (5) a lack of tool support; (6) misunderstanding between developers and safety analysts; (7) language, geographic and culture limitations; (8) unwillingness to communicate (groupthink); (9) storage, authority, regulation and monitoring of safety analysis information; (10) a lack of documentation concerning safety analysis to support communication. Conclusion: During safety analysis, to use communication channels effectively and avoid challenges, a clear purpose of communication during safety analysis should be established at the beginning. We have limitations primarily on the research context namely the scope of domains, participants and countries. To derive countermeasures of fixing the top 10 challenges are potential next steps. OutlineThe article is organised as follows. In Section 2, we describe the background of communication channels and the related work regarding our study. We define a theoretical lens of communication channels during safety analysis in Section 3. Section 4 presents the case study design including context, research questions, data collection and analysis procedures. In Section 5, we report our study results. We discuss our implications and limitations i...

show abstract

“…Demonstrate to product owner what has been done by the team [SHMH14], [Wol12], [FSOO13], [HHS + 16], [McM16], [WBW17] and to create awareness of activities among team members [Wol12]. Involve all relevant stakeholders [DK16].…”

Section: Sprint Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Involve all relevant stakeholders [DK16]. Include hazard analysis (ibid) and acceptance criteria in review [WBW17], [SW13], [MMC14] and implement it as independent process for good quality assurance [KKK14].…”

Section: Sprint Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While agile methods may improve stakeholder involvement (see above), stakeholders of SCS are used to communication through documents. The lack of focus on documentation in agile methods may lead to unclear safety documentation, thus hindering effective communication between the different stakeholders [WRW17], [WBW17].…”

Section: Rq3: Challenges With Agile Development Of Scsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Safety-Critical Systems and Agile Development: A Mapping Study

Kasauli

Knauss

Kanagwa

et al. 2018

2018 44th Euromicro Conference on Software Engineering and Advanced Applications (SEAA)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the last decades, agile methods had a huge impact on how software is developed. In many cases, this has led to significant benefits, such as quality and speed of software deliveries to customers. However, safety-critical systems have widely been dismissed from benefiting from agile methods. Products that include safety critical aspects are therefore faced with a situation in which the development of safety-critical parts can significantly limit the potential speed-up through agile methods, for the full product, but also in the non-safety critical parts. For such products, the ability to develop safety-critical software in an agile way will generate a competitive advantage. In order to enable future research in this important area, we present in this paper a mapping of the current state of practice based on a mixed method approach. Starting from a workshop with experts from six large Swedish product development companies we develop a lens for our analysis. We then present a systematic mapping study on safety-critical systems and agile development through this lens in order to map potential benefits, challenges, and solution candidates for guiding future research.

show abstract

A study of safety documentation in a Scrum development process

Cited by 7 publications

References 11 publications

An Exploratory Study on Applying a Scrum Development Process for Safety-Critical Systems

An Exploratory Study on Applying a Scrum Development Process for Safety-Critical Systems

Communication channels in safety analysis: An industrial exploratory case study

Safety-Critical Systems and Agile Development: A Mapping Study

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About