Quest for a silver bullet: Creating software product value through requirements selection
Sebastian Barney
Honours Thesis, University of New South Wales, Australia (2005)
Abstract
The value of a software product is based on the requirements included in a specific release of that product. This paper provides an overview of how software product value is both understood and created through release planning for three software products in Australia and Germany. This paper examines how IT professionals perceived value creation through requirements engineering and how the release planning process was conducted to create software product value. It then looks at the relative importance of different criteria applied in deciding whether to include a requirement in a specific release of software and the degree to which the major stakeholders’ perspectives were represented in the decision making process.
The external client/market base of the software product was the most influential group in the decision to implement specific requirements; this is reflected both in the processes followed and the decision-making criteria applied.
The paper concluded that the creation of software product value is dependent on the context in which the software product exists, including issues such as the market or age of the product. But value creation through requirements selection needs to be better understood in order for the process to be more effectively managed.