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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