An elicitation instrument for operationalising GQM+Strategies (GQM+S-EI)

Abstract

Context: A recent approach for measurement program planning, GQM + Strategies, provides an important extension to existing approaches linking measurements and improvement activities to strategic goals and ways to achieve these goals. There is a need for instruments aiding in eliciting information from stakeholders to use GQM + Strategies. The success of GQM + Strategies highly depends on accurately identifying goals, strategies and information needs from stakeholders.Objective: The research aims at providing an instrument (called GQM + S-EI), aiding practitioners to accurately elicit information needed by GQM + Strategies (capturing goals, strategies and information needs).Method: The research included two phases. In the first phase, using action research method, the GQM + S-EI was designed in three iterations in Ericsson AB. Thereafter, a case study was conducted to evaluate whether the information elicited with the designed instrument following the defined process was accurate and complete. Results:We identified that the industry requires elicitation instruments that are capable to elicit information from stakeholders, not having to know about the concepts (e.g. goals and strategies). The case study results showed that our proposed instrument is capable of accurately and completely capturing the needed information from the stakeholders.Conclusions: We conclude that GQM + S-EI can be used for accurately and completely eliciting the information needed by goal driven measurement frameworks. The instrument has been successfully transferred to Ericsson AB for measurement program planning.

Action research as a model for industry-academia collaboration in the software engineering context

“…Both cases are related to social activities where a team of people uses the methods introduced. The first method is a security risk analysis method (countermeasure graphs) [3], and the second an elicitation instrument to gather goals, information needs, and strategies from stakeholders to operationalize GQM+Strategies [27]. In this section we describe the action research processes and models of collaboration, while further details on the research context and actions taken can be found in [3,27].…”

“…For example, rather than asking for the goals directly, we asked when the practitioners believe their improvement program is successful, and how the success could be achieved. The details and ratio- nales for formulating the questions in the interview guide are presented in [27]. Only one interview was conducted for improvement program A.…”

“…The first change is the introduction of a method for software security risk analysis [3]. The second change is the introduction of an elicitation instrument to operationalize GQM+Strategies in the organization [27].…”

A Conceptual Framework for Metrics Selection: SMeS

“…It is important that the metrics be collected be determined as early as the initial planning in order to fulfill the organization's needs [12]. There is no standard way of defining the structure, quantity, and syntax of goals and questions [25]; (iii) Insufficient cost-saving methods. Collection of data has been a critical activity due to cost concerns.…”

“…Furthermore, organizations have restricted resources to fund measurement programs. To achieve cost reduction when managing measurement programs, questions and goals could be reused, and the number of metrics limited [25]; (iv) Lack of measurement expertise. The lack of informed judgment for selecting the relevant number of metrics is another reason for unsuccessful software measurement programs.…”