Ensuring Software Product Quality : An Industrial Case Study

Abstract: Context This thesis verifies a method developed on alignment issues in different data points and is useful to validate the method in those data points. To find the alignment/misalignment problems occurring within the stakeholders in a company is done through surveys using Hierarchical Cumulative Voting (HCV). This paper presents a case study to explain the importance of alignment between the stakeholders to achieve quality. Time, scope and cost are given higher priority leaving quality as it is hard to measure. To maintain quality in a software product is a major challenge in most of the software organizations. Stakeholders play a major role in software development. Without the alignment and common understanding between the stakeholders, it is highly difficult to achieve successful software project with good quality. The reasons for misalignment/alignment between the stakeholders are being explained clearly in this thesis based on the interviews and the survey conducted in software development companies under the novelty of case study. Objectives To evaluate the usefulness of alignment approach in different data points, to achieve product quality, for understanding the reasons for misalignment and to provide common approach for aligning we need to know the actual aligning priorities given by the stakeholders. We have one method for aligning and we want to see how actual alignment is different in different data points. To find the reasons for different stakeholders’ groups focusing on different quality attributes and to manage quality that helps in aligning quality requirements in future. Methods In order to know the importance of quality, prioritization of requirements and about the alignment problem we have conducted the literature review. To understand the problem and to know the reasons for misalignment in the companies we have conducted a case study in which we interviewed 8 employees from a company and to know the individual ranking of quality attributes we also made use of surveys in which 17 individuals from two companies had participated. Results We have identified the reasons for misalignment using interviews in one company and the individual priorities given to different quality attributes through surveys in two different companies. The qualities are prioritized by the stakeholder groups in the surveys and these are used to calculate the alignment/misalignment between the groups using spearman rank correlation which pointed that there are some disagreements between the stakeholder groups. Conclusions This paper explains the results obtained from a case study for determining the alignment/misalignment between different stakeholder groups and the reasons for this situation. Through surveys we found that there is a strong disagreement between the stakeholders in one company and partial agreement in the other company with respect to priorities they assign to individual qualities and the reasons behind this are obtained through interviews. The reasons for misalignment are lack of common understandings between the stakeholders, less discussion on quality requirement, undocumented priorities, no importance given to quality and others.