An Empirical Assessment of the Impact of Requirements Uncertainty on Development Quality Performance
Abstract
System requirements are recognized as a critical step in the development of quality software (SW) systems and an important area of research. Being the first step in the process of software engineering, the effort has potential to shape the direction for all subsequent project activity. The main purpose of this research is to examine the impact of requirements uncertainty and task uncertainty on outcomes in software development projects, limiting the attention to process and product quality. Some of those examined projects are defense-related and aerospace-command and control systems. A cross-sectional survey of 123 participants work in software development in 34 U.S. organizations was employed to prove my research model. Analyzed data provided evidence of a significant negative association between requirements uncertainty and development quality factors: process and product. Moreover, the analyzed data showed that there is a significance positive association between requirements and task uncertainty. In addition, the data provided evidence of a negative significant association between task uncertainty and process and product quality. My study pointed to areas where there was negative impact on the developed system quality. In particular, my research focused on the uncertainty regarding user requirements, because I believed that this had the most influence. Findings from this research can provide the basis on which project managers and software practitioners can design concrete strategies that would enhance the performance of software development to high quality ends.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA466125
Entities
People
- Ayad Y. Aldaijy
Organizations
- Ministry of Defense