Explicit Alignment of Requirements and Architecture in Agile Development

Sabine Molenaar, Tjerk Spijkman, Fabiano Dalpiaz, Sjaak Brinkkemper

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionAcademicpeer-review

    Abstract

    [Context & Motivation] Requirements and architectural components are designed concurrently, with the former guiding the latter, and the latter restricting the former. [Question/problem] Effective communication between requirements engineers and software architects is often experienced as problematic. [Principal ideas/results] We present the Requirements Engineering for Software Architecture (RE4SA) model with the intention to support the communication within the development team. In RE4SA, requirements are expressed as epic stories and user stories, which are linked to modules and features, respectively, as their architectural counterparts. Additionally, we provide metrics to measure the alignment between these concepts, and we also discuss how to use the model and the usefulness of the metrics by applying both to case studies. [Contribution] The RE4SA model employs widely adopted notations and allows for explicitly relating a system’s requirements and architectural components, while the metrics make it possible to measure the alignment between requirements and architecture.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationRequirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality
    Subtitle of host publication26th International Working Conference, REFSQ 2020, Pisa, Italy, March 24–27, 2020, Proceedings
    EditorsNazim Madhavji, Liliana Pasquale, Alessio Ferrari, Stefania Gnesi
    PublisherSpringer
    Pages169-185
    Number of pages17
    ISBN (Electronic)978-3-030-44429-7
    ISBN (Print)978-3-030-44428-0
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2020

    Publication series

    NameLecture Notes in Computer Science
    PublisherSpringer
    Volume12045

    Keywords

    • Requirements
    • Engineering
    • Software
    • Architecture
    • User stories
    • Alignment
    • Metrics
    • Case study
    • Agile RE

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