The evolution of requirements practices in software startups

Gralha, Catarina; Damian, Daniela; Wasserman, Anthony I.; Goulão, Miguel; Araújo, João

doi:10.1145/3180155.3180158

Cited by 61 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Several studies attempt to explore product engineering practices in start-ups. For example, Gralha et al [11] and Melegati et al [10] explore requirements engineering practices in start-ups. These studies suggest that requirements engineering is one of the key engineering process areas in start-ups, and help to explore the market opportunity and to devise a feasible solution.…”

Section: Software Engineering Practices In Start-upsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Progression Model of Software Engineering Goals, Challenges, and Practices in Start-Ups

Klotins

Unterkalmsteiner

Chatzipetrou

et al. 2021

IIEEE Trans. Software Eng.

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Context: Software start-ups are emerging as suppliers of innovation and software-intensive products. However, traditional software engineering practices are not evaluated in the context, nor adopted to goals and challenges of start-ups. As a result, there is insufficient support for software engineering in the start-up context. Objective: We aim to collect data related to engineering goals, challenges, and practices in start-up companies to ascertain trends and patterns characterizing engineering work in start-ups. Such data allows researchers to understand better how goals and challenges are related to practices. This understanding can then inform future studies aimed at designing solutions addressing those goals and challenges. Besides, these trends and patterns can be useful for practitioners to make more informed decisions in their engineering practice. Method: We use a case survey method to gather first-hand, in-depth experiences from a large sample of software start-ups. We use open coding and cross-case analysis to describe and identify patterns, and corroborate the findings with statistical analysis. Results: We analyze 84 start-up cases and identify 16 goals, 9 challenges, and 16 engineering practices that are common among startups. We have mapped these goals, challenges, and practices to start-up life-cycle stages (inception, stabilization, growth, and maturity). Thus, creating the progression model guiding software engineering efforts in start-ups. Conclusions: We conclude that start-ups to a large extent face the same challenges and use the same practices as established companies. However, the primary software engineering challenge in start-ups is to evolve multiple process areas at once, with a little margin for serious errors.

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Section: Software Engineering Practices In Start-upsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Progression Model of Software Engineering Goals, Challenges, and Practices in Start-Ups

Klotins

Unterkalmsteiner

Chatzipetrou

et al. 2021

IIEEE Trans. Software Eng.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Applying our findings regarding the benefits of (i) GSD over TSD and (ii) cohesive TSD with rationale to other kinds of software artifacts can yield benefits for their communication and consumption as well. For instance, as requirements documents become more complex (Gralha et al 2018), augmenting these with graphical representations or rational could, ultimately, improve requirements engineering. Model-based systems engineering (Ramos et al 2012) traditionally considers graphical representations.…”

Section: Generalizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Collaborative Interpersonal Communication (Soller 2001), which includes: 1.1 Rationale Kauffeld and Lehmann-Willenbrock (2012) suggested that effective team communication and information flow are prerequisites for the success of software development projects. In a study on requirements practices in start-ups, Gralha et al (2018) identified knowledge management and communication as increasingly important strategies for risk mitigation and prevention. As a consequence, research concerning different factors influencing the degree and way in which people communicate and share their knowledge is actually relevant for maximizing the aforementioned advantages.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Software engineering whispers: The effect of textual vs. graphical software design descriptions on software design communication

et al. 2020

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Context Software engineering is a social and collaborative activity. Communicating and sharing knowledge between software developers requires much effort. Hence, the quality of communication plays an important role in influencing project success. To better understand the effect of communication on project success, more in-depth empirical studies investigating this phenomenon are needed. Objective We investigate the effect of using a graphical versus textual design description on co-located software design communication. Method Therefore, we conducted a family of experiments involving a mix of 240 software engineering students from four universities. We examined how different design representations (i.e., graphical vs. textual) affect the ability to Explain, Understand, Recall, and Actively Communicate knowledge. Results We found that the graphical design description is better than the textual in promoting Active Discussion between developers and improving the Recall of design details. Furthermore, compared to its unaltered version, a well-organized and motivated textual design description–that is used for the same amount of time–enhances the recall of design details and increases the amount of active discussions at the cost of reducing the perceived quality of explaining.

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“…Their concern has primarily been on how is technical debt introduced in different software engineering knowledge areas (code, design and architecture, environment, knowledge distribution and documentation, and testing) in TS context, identified by Tom et al [24]. For example, Gralha et al in [13] states the following: "Improved ability to handle technical debt results in a higher ability to prioritize requirements with greatest customer impact. ", providing us with a solid theory about dimensions (Requirement artifacts, Product quality, Knowledge management, Technical debt, Requirements-related roles) that determine product requirement practices in startups.…”

Section: Software Startups Becoming Grownups and Technical Debtmentioning

confidence: 99%

Technical Debt Trade-Off - Experiences from Software Startups Becoming Grownups

Cico

2019

Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing

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Software startups are software-intensive early-stage companies that have higher growth rates compared to other startup breeds. Their time to market is often regarded as short and decisive in establishing their product/service success, thus leading to shortcuts in software engineering decisions. High accumulation of the technical debt at early stages has been documented from previous investigations. How startups rapidly becoming grownups perceive technical debt, make the primary goal of our study. We conducted semi-structured interviews with six technical and executive officers from five software startups, selected using purposive sampling. We identified four critical perceptions (managing, accepting, avoiding, ignoring technical debt) which permit them to make technical debt trade-offs. We also found that no one size fits all. Startups need to make deliberate educated decisions on how to use technical debt in their advantage. This study, throughout its recommendations, provides an initial road-map for future startups.

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The evolution of requirements practices in software startups

Cited by 61 publications

References 31 publications

A Progression Model of Software Engineering Goals, Challenges, and Practices in Start-Ups

A Progression Model of Software Engineering Goals, Challenges, and Practices in Start-Ups

Software engineering whispers: The effect of textual vs. graphical software design descriptions on software design communication

Technical Debt Trade-Off - Experiences from Software Startups Becoming Grownups

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