On Evidence-Based Risk Management in Requirements Engineering

• Published in: Software Quality: Methods and Tools for Better Software and Systems Vol. 302; pp. 39 - 59
• Main Authors: Méndez Fernández, Daniel, Tießler, Michaela, Kalinowski, Marcos, Felderer, Michael, Kuhrmann, Marco
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Springer International Publishing AG 2018; Springer International Publishing
• Series: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing
• Subjects: Evidence-based research; Requirements engineering; Risk management
• ISBN: 9783319714394; 3319714392
• ISSN: 1865-1348; 1865-1356
• DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-71440-0_3

Background: The sensitivity of Requirements Engineering (RE) to the context makes it difficult to efficiently control problems therein, thus, hampering an effective risk management devoted to allow for early corrective or even preventive measures. Problem: There is still little empirical knowledge about context-specific RE phenomena which would be necessary for an effective context-sensitive risk management in RE. Goal: We propose and validate an evidence-based approach to assess risks in RE using cross-company data about problems, causes and effects. Research Method: We use survey data from 228 companies and build a probabilistic network that supports the forecast of context-specific RE phenomena. We implement this approach using spreadsheets to support a light-weight risk assessment. Results: Our results from an initial validation in 6 companies strengthen our confidence that the approach increases the awareness for individual risk factors in RE, and the feedback further allows for disseminating our approach into practice.