Marcos Kalinowski

Fabio Calefato, Luigi Quaranta, Filippo Lanubile et al.

Background. Due to the widespread adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) for building software applications, companies are struggling to recruit employees with a deep understanding of such technologies. In this scenario, AutoML is soaring as a promising solution to fill the AI/ML skills gap since it promises to automate the building of end-to-end AI/ML pipelines that would normally be engineered by specialized team members. Aims. Despite the growing interest and high expectations, there is a dearth of information about the extent to which AutoML is currently adopted by teams developing AI/ML-enabled systems and how it is perceived by practitioners and researchers. Method. To fill these gaps, in this paper, we present a mixed-method study comprising a benchmark of 12 end-to-end AutoML tools on two SE datasets and a user survey with follow-up interviews to further our understanding of AutoML adoption and perception. Results. We found that AutoML solutions can generate models that outperform those trained and optimized by researchers to perform classification tasks in the SE domain. Also, our findings show that the currently available AutoML solutions do not live up to their names as they do not equally support automation across the stages of the ML development workflow and for all the team members. Conclusions. We derive insights to inform the SE research community on how AutoML can facilitate their activities and tool builders on how to design the next generation of AutoML technologies.

Hugo Villamizar, Marcos Kalinowski, Helio Lopes

Machine learning (ML) teams often work on a project just to realize the performance of the model is not good enough. Indeed, the success of ML-enabled systems involves aligning data with business problems, translating them into ML tasks, experimenting with algorithms, evaluating models, capturing data from users, among others. Literature has shown that ML-enabled systems are rarely built based on precise specifications for such concerns, leading ML teams to become misaligned due to incorrect assumptions, which may affect the quality of such systems and overall project success. In order to help addressing this issue, this paper describes our work towards a perspective-based approach for specifying ML-enabled systems. The approach involves analyzing a set of 45 ML concerns grouped into five perspectives: objectives, user experience, infrastructure, model, and data. The main contribution of this paper is to provide two new artifacts that can be used to help specifying ML-enabled systems: (i) the perspective-based ML task and concern diagram and (ii) the perspective-based ML specification template.

Görkem Giray, Onur Demirörs, Marcos Kalinowski et al.

Context. GenAI tools are being increasingly adopted by practitioners in SE, promising support for several SE activities. Despite increasing adoption, we still lack empirical evidence on how GenAI is used in practice, the benefits it provides, the challenges it introduces, and its broader organizational and societal implications. Objective. This study aims to provide an overview of the status of GenAI adoption in SE. It investigates the status of GenAI adoption, associated benefits and challenges, institutionalization of tools and techniques, and anticipated long term impacts on SE professionals and the community. Results. The results indicate a wide adoption of GenAI tools and how they are deeply integrated into daily SE work, particularly for implementation, verification and validation, personal assistance, and maintenance-related tasks. Practitioners report substantial benefits, most notably reduction in cycle time, quality improvements, enhanced support in knowledge work, and productivity gains. However, objective measurement of productivity and quality remains limited in practice. Significant challenges persist, including incorrect or unreliable outputs, prompt engineering difficulties, validation overhead, security and privacy concerns, and risks of overreliance. Institutionalization of tools and techniques seems to be common, but it varies considerably, with a strong focus on tool access and less emphasis on training and governance. Practitioners expect GenAI to redefine rather than replace their roles, while expressing moderate concern about job market contraction and skill shifts.

Anna Luiza Gomes, Getúlio Vianna, Tatiana Escovedo et al.

Context: The number of TV series offered nowadays is very high. Due to its large amount, many series are canceled due to a lack of originality that generates a low audience. Problem: Having a decision support system that can show why some shows are a huge success or not would facilitate the choices of renewing or starting a show. Solution: We studied the case of the series Arrow broadcasted by CW Network and used descriptive and predictive modeling techniques to predict the IMDb rating. We assumed that the theme of the episode would affect its evaluation by users, so the dataset is composed only by the director of the episode, the number of reviews that episode got, the percentual of each theme extracted by the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model of an episode, the number of viewers from Wikipedia and the rating from IMDb. The LDA model is a generative probabilistic model of a collection of documents made up of words. Method: In this prescriptive research, the case study method was used, and its results were analyzed using a quantitative approach. Summary of Results: With the features of each episode, the model that performed the best to predict the rating was Catboost due to a similar mean squared error of the KNN model but a better standard deviation during the test phase. It was possible to predict IMDb ratings with an acceptable root mean squared error of 0.55.

Rodrigo Laigner, Diogo Mendonça, Alessandro Garcia et al.

Context: Dependency Injection (DI) is a commonly applied mechanism to decouple classes from their dependencies in order to provide higher modularization. However, bad DI practices often lead to negative consequences, such as increasing coupling. Although white literature conjectures about the existence of DI anti-patterns, there is no evidence on their practical relevance, usefulness, and generality. Objective: The objective of this study is to propose and evaluate a catalog of Java DI anti-patterns and associated refactorings. Methodology: We reviewed existing reported DI anti-patterns in order to analyze their completeness. The limitations found in literature motivated proposing a novel catalog of 12 DI anti-patterns. We developed a tool to statically analyze the occurrence level of the candidate DI anti-patterns in both open-source and industry projects. Next, we survey practitioners to assess their perception on the relevance, usefulness, and their willingness on refactoring anti-pattern instances of the catalog. Results: Our static code analyzer tool showed a relative recall of 92.19% and high average precision. It revealed that at least 9 different DI anti-patterns appeared frequently in the analyzed projects. Besides, our survey confirmed the perceived relevance of the catalog and developers expressed their willingness to refactor instances of anti-patterns from source code. Conclusion: The catalog contains Java DI anti-patterns that occur in practice and that are perceived as useful. Sharing it with practitioners may help them to avoid such anti-patterns, thus improving source-code quality.

Rodrigo Laigner, Yongluan Zhou, Marcos Antonio Vaz Salles et al.

Microservices have become a popular architectural style for data-driven applications, given their ability to functionally decompose an application into small and autonomous services to achieve scalability, strong isolation, and specialization of database systems to the workloads and data formats of each service. Despite the accelerating industrial adoption of this architectural style, an investigation of the state of the practice and challenges practitioners face regarding data management in microservices is lacking. To bridge this gap, we conducted a systematic literature review of representative articles reporting the adoption of microservices, we analyzed a set of popular open-source microservice applications, and we conducted an online survey to cross-validate the findings of the previous steps with the perceptions and experiences of over 120 experienced practitioners and researchers. Through this process, we were able to categorize the state of practice of data management in microservices and observe several foundational challenges that cannot be solved by software engineering practices alone, but rather require system-level support to alleviate the burden imposed on practitioners. We discuss the shortcomings of state-of-the-art database systems regarding microservices and we conclude by devising a set of features for microservice-oriented database systems.

Bianca Trinkenreich, Fabio Calefato, Geir Hanssen et al.

The adoption of Large Language Models (LLMs) is not only transforming software engineering (SE) practice but is also poised to fundamentally disrupt how research is conducted in the field. While perspectives on this transformation range from viewing LLMs as mere productivity tools to considering them revolutionary forces, we argue that the SE research community must proactively engage with and shape the integration of LLMs into research practices, emphasizing human agency in this transformation. As LLMs rapidly become integral to SE research - both as tools that support investigations and as subjects of study - a human-centric perspective is essential. Ensuring human oversight and interpretability is necessary for upholding scientific rigor, fostering ethical responsibility, and driving advancements in the field. Drawing from discussions at the 2nd Copenhagen Symposium on Human-Centered AI in SE, this position paper employs McLuhan's Tetrad of Media Laws to analyze the impact of LLMs on SE research. Through this theoretical lens, we examine how LLMs enhance research capabilities through accelerated ideation and automated processes, make some traditional research practices obsolete, retrieve valuable aspects of historical research approaches, and risk reversal effects when taken to extremes. Our analysis reveals opportunities for innovation and potential pitfalls that require careful consideration. We conclude with a call to action for the SE research community to proactively harness the benefits of LLMs while developing frameworks and guidelines to mitigate their risks, to ensure continued rigor and impact of research in an AI-augmented future.

Maria Teresa Baldassarre, Domenico Gigante, Marcos Kalinowski et al.

Recently, there has been growing attention on behalf of both academic and practice communities towards the ability of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems to operate responsibly and ethically. As a result, a plethora of frameworks and guidelines have appeared to support practitioners in implementing Trustworthy AI applications (TAI). However, little research has been done to investigate whether such frameworks are being used and how. In this work, we study the vision AI practitioners have on TAI principles, how they address them, and what they would like to have - in terms of tools, knowledge, or guidelines - when they attempt to incorporate such principles into the systems they develop. Through a survey and semi-structured interviews, we systematically investigated practitioners' challenges and needs in developing TAI systems. Based on these practical findings, we highlight recommendations to help AI practitioners develop Trustworthy AI applications.

Marcos Kalinowski, Daniel Mendez, Görkem Giray et al.

Context: Machine learning (ML)-enabled systems are being increasingly adopted by companies aiming to enhance their products and operational processes. Objective: This paper aims to deliver a comprehensive overview of the current status quo of engineering ML-enabled systems and lay the foundation to steer practically relevant and problem-driven academic research. Method: We conducted an international survey to collect insights from practitioners on the current practices and problems in engineering ML-enabled systems. We received 188 complete responses from 25 countries. We conducted quantitative statistical analyses on contemporary practices using bootstrapping with confidence intervals and qualitative analyses on the reported problems using open and axial coding procedures. Results: Our survey results reinforce and extend existing empirical evidence on engineering ML-enabled systems, providing additional insights into typical ML-enabled systems project contexts, the perceived relevance and complexity of ML life cycle phases, and current practices related to problem understanding, model deployment, and model monitoring. Furthermore, the qualitative analysis provides a detailed map of the problems practitioners face within each ML life cycle phase and the problems causing overall project failure. Conclusions: The results contribute to a better understanding of the status quo and problems in practical environments. We advocate for the further adaptation and dissemination of software engineering practices to enhance the engineering of ML-enabled systems.

Cauã Ferreira Barros, Bruna Borges Azevedo, Valdemar Vicente Graciano Neto et al.

The exponential growth of text-based data in domains such as healthcare, education, and social sciences has outpaced the capacity of traditional qualitative analysis methods, which are time-intensive and prone to subjectivity. Large Language Models (LLMs), powered by advanced generative AI, have emerged as transformative tools capable of automating and enhancing qualitative analysis. This study systematically maps the literature on the use of LLMs for qualitative research, exploring their application contexts, configurations, methodologies, and evaluation metrics. Findings reveal that LLMs are utilized across diverse fields, demonstrating the potential to automate processes traditionally requiring extensive human input. However, challenges such as reliance on prompt engineering, occasional inaccuracies, and contextual limitations remain significant barriers. This research highlights opportunities for integrating LLMs with human expertise, improving model robustness, and refining evaluation methodologies. By synthesizing trends and identifying research gaps, this study aims to guide future innovations in the application of LLMs for qualitative analysis.

Silvio Alonso, Antonio Pedro Santos Alves, Lucas Romao et al.

[Context] The increasing adoption of machine learning (ML) in software systems demands specialized ideation approaches that address ML-specific challenges, including data dependencies, technical feasibility, and alignment between business objectives and probabilistic system behavior. Traditional ideation methods like Lean Inception lack structured support for these ML considerations, which can result in misaligned product visions and unrealistic expectations. [Goal] This paper presents Define-ML, a framework that extends Lean Inception with tailored activities - Data Source Mapping, Feature-to-Data Source Mapping, and ML Mapping - to systematically integrate data and technical constraints into early-stage ML product ideation. [Method] We developed and validated Define-ML following the Technology Transfer Model, conducting both static validation (with a toy problem) and dynamic validation (in a real-world industrial case study). The analysis combined quantitative surveys with qualitative feedback, assessing utility, ease of use, and intent of adoption. [Results] Participants found Define-ML effective for clarifying data concerns, aligning ML capabilities with business goals, and fostering cross-functional collaboration. The approach's structured activities reduced ideation ambiguity, though some noted a learning curve for ML-specific components, which can be mitigated by expert facilitation. All participants expressed the intention to adopt Define-ML. [Conclusion] Define-ML provides an openly available, validated approach for ML product ideation, building on Lean Inception's agility while aligning features with available data and increasing awareness of technical feasibility.

Lucas Romao, Hugo Villamizar, Romeu Oliveira et al.

[Context] Machine learning (ML)-enabled systems are present in our society, driving significant digital transformations. The dynamic nature of ML development, characterized by experimental cycles and rapid changes in data, poses challenges to traditional project management. Agile methods, with their flexibility and incremental delivery, seem well-suited to address this dynamism. However, it is unclear how to effectively apply these methods in the context of ML-enabled systems, where challenges require tailored approaches. [Goal] Our goal is to outline the state of the art in agile management for ML-enabled systems. [Method] We conducted a systematic mapping study using a hybrid search strategy that combines database searches with backward and forward snowballing iterations. [Results] Our study identified 27 papers published between 2008 and 2024. From these, we identified eight frameworks and categorized recommendations and practices into eight key themes, such as Iteration Flexibility, Innovative ML-specific Artifacts, and the Minimal Viable Model. The main challenge identified across studies was accurate effort estimation for ML-related tasks. [Conclusion] This study contributes by mapping the state of the art and identifying open gaps in the field. While relevant work exists, more robust empirical evaluation is still needed to validate these contributions.

Marco Kuhrmann, Paolo Tell, Regina Hebig et al.

Together with many success stories, promises such as the increase in production speed and the improvement in stakeholders' collaboration have contributed to making agile a transformation in the software industry in which many companies want to take part. However, driven either by a natural and expected evolution or by contextual factors that challenge the adoption of agile methods as prescribed by their creator(s), software processes in practice mutate into hybrids over time. Are these still agile? In this article, we investigate the question: what makes a software development method agile? We present an empirical study grounded in a large-scale international survey that aims to identify software development methods and practices that improve or tame agility. Based on 556 data points, we analyze the perceived degree of agility in the implementation of standard project disciplines and its relation to used development methods and practices. Our findings suggest that only a small number of participants operate their projects in a purely traditional or agile manner (under 15%). That said, most project disciplines and most practices show a clear trend towards increasing degrees of agility. Compared to the methods used to develop software, the selection of practices has a stronger effect on the degree of agility of a given discipline. Finally, there are no methods or practices that explicitly guarantee or prevent agility. We conclude that agility cannot be defined solely at the process level. Additional factors need to be taken into account when trying to implement or improve agility in a software company. Finally, we discuss the field of software process-related research in the light of our findings and present a roadmap for future research.

Danilo Almeida Felipe, Marcos Kalinowski

[Context] Although software development is an inherently human activity, research in software engineering (SE) has long focused mostly on processes and tools, failing to recall about the human factors behind. Even when explored, researchers typically do not properly use psychology background to better understand human factors in SE, such as the psychometric instruments, which aim to measure human factors. [Objective] Our goal is to provide a critical review on the use of psychometric instruments in SE research regarding personality. [Method] We present a two-step study. First, a systematic mapping of the literature in order to generate a catalog of the psychometric instruments used; second, a preliminary survey to be conducted with social sciences researchers to assess their adoption in SE research. [Results and Conclusion] The results so far are quite initial. The next steps direct us to finish the data extraction to finalize the catalog (systematic mapping) and to refine the survey design and apply it with social sciences researchers.

Diogo Silveira Mendonça, Marcos Kalinowski

Background: Custom static analysis rules, i.e., rules specific for one or more applications, have been successfully applied to perform corrective and preventive software maintenance. Pattern-Driven Maintenance (PDM) is a method designed to support the creation of such rules during software maintenance. However, as PDM was recently proposed, few maintainers have reported on its usage. Hence, the challenges and skills needed to apply PDM properly are unknown. Aims: In this paper, we investigate the challenges faced by maintainers on applying PDM for creating custom static analysis rules for defect localization. Method: We conducted an observational study on novice maintainers creating custom static analysis rules by applying PDM. The study was divided into three tasks: (i) identifying a defect pattern, (ii) programming a static analysis rule to locate instances of the pattern, and (iii) verifying the located instances. We analyzed the efficiency and acceptance of maintainers on applying PDM and their comments on task challenges. Results: We observed that previous knowledge on debugging, the subject software, and related technologies influenced the performance of maintainers as well as the time to learn the technology involved in rule programming. Conclusions: The results strengthen our confidence that PDM can help maintainers in producing custom static analysis rules for locating defects. However, a proper selection and training of maintainers is needed to apply PDM effectively. Also, using a higher level of abstraction can ease static analysis rule programming for novice maintainers.

Hugo Villamizar, Marcos Kalinowski, Alessandro Garcia et al.

Defects in requirements specifications can have severe consequences during the software development lifecycle. Some of them may result in poor product quality and/or time and budget overruns due to incorrect or missing quality characteristics, such as security. This characteristic requires special attention in web applications because they have become a target for manipulating sensible data. Several concerns make security difficult to deal with. For instance, security requirements are often misunderstood and improperly specified due to lack of security expertise and emphasis on security during early stages of software development. This often leads to unspecified or ill-defined security-related aspects. These concerns become even more challenging in agile contexts, where lightweight documentation is typically produced. To tackle this problem, we designed an approach for reviewing security-related aspects in agile requirements specifications of web applications. Our proposal considers user stories and security specifications as inputs and relates those user stories to security properties via Natural Language Processing. Based on the related security properties, our approach identifies high-level security requirements from the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) to be verified, and generates a reading technique to support reviewers in detecting defects. We evaluate our approach via three experiment trials conducted with 56 novice software engineers, measuring effectiveness, efficiency, usefulness, and ease of use. We compare our approach against using: (1) the OWASP high-level security requirements, and (2) a perspective-based approach as proposed in contemporary state of the art. The results strengthen our confidence that using our approach has a positive impact (with large effect size) on the performance of inspectors in terms of effectiveness and efficiency.

Claes Wohlin, Emilia Mendes, Katia Romero Felizardo et al.

Context: Systematic Literature Reviews (SLRs) have been adopted within Software Engineering (SE) for more than a decade to provide meaningful summaries of evidence on several topics. Many of these SLRs are now potentially not fully up-to-date, and there are no standard proposals on how to update SLRs in SE. Objective: The objective of this paper is to propose guidelines on how to best search for evidence when updating SLRs in SE, and to evaluate these guidelines using an SLR that was not employed during the formulation of the guidelines. Method: To propose our guidelines, we compare and discuss outcomes from applying different search strategies to identify primary studies in a published SLR, an SLR update, and two replications in the area of effort estimation. These guidelines are then evaluated using an SLR in the area of software ecosystems, its update and a replication. Results: The use of a single iteration forward snowballing with Google Scholar, and employing as a seed set the original SLR and its primary studies is the most cost-effective way to search for new evidence when updating SLRs. Furthermore, the importance of having more than one researcher involved in the selection of papers when applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria is highlighted through the results. Conclusions: Our proposed guidelines formulated based upon an effort estimation SLR, its update and two replications, were supported when using an SLR in the area of software ecosystems, its update and a replication. Therefore, we put forward that our guidelines ought to be adopted for updating SLRs in SE.

Paul Ralph, Sebastian Baltes, Gianisa Adisaputri et al.

Context. As a novel coronavirus swept the world in early 2020, thousands of software developers began working from home. Many did so on short notice, under difficult and stressful conditions. Objective. This study investigates the effects of the pandemic on developers' wellbeing and productivity. Method. A questionnaire survey was created mainly from existing, validated scales and translated into 12 languages. The data was analyzed using non-parametric inferential statistics and structural equation modeling. Results. The questionnaire received 2225 usable responses from 53 countries. Factor analysis supported the validity of the scales and the structural model achieved a good fit (CFI = 0.961, RMSEA = 0.051, SRMR = 0.067). Confirmatory results include: (1) the pandemic has had a negative effect on developers' wellbeing and productivity; (2) productivity and wellbeing are closely related; (3) disaster preparedness, fear related to the pandemic and home office ergonomics all affect wellbeing or productivity. Exploratory analysis suggests that: (1) women, parents and people with disabilities may be disproportionately affected; (2) different people need different kinds of support. Conclusions. To improve employee productivity, software companies should focus on maximizing employee wellbeing and improving the ergonomics of employees' home offices. Women, parents and disabled persons may require extra support.

Erica Mourão, João Felipe Pimentel, Leonardo Murta et al.

Context: When conducting a Systematic Literature Review (SLR), researchers usually face the challenge of designing a search strategy that appropriately balances result quality and review effort. Using digital library (or database) searches or snowballing alone may not be enough to achieve high-quality results. On the other hand, using both digital library searches and snowballing together may increase the overall review effort. Objective: The goal of this research is to propose and evaluate hybrid search strategies that selectively combine database searches with snowballing. Method: We propose four hybrid search strategies combining database searches in digital libraries with iterative, parallel, or sequential backward and forward snowballing. We simulated the strategies over three existing SLRs in SE that adopted both database searches and snowballing. We compared the outcome of digital library searches, snowballing, and hybrid strategies using precision, recall, and F-measure to investigate the performance of each strategy. Results: Our results show that, for the analyzed SLRs, combining database searches from the Scopus digital library with parallel or sequential snowballing achieved the most appropriate balance of precision and recall. Conclusion: We put forward that, depending on the goals of the SLR and the available resources, using a hybrid search strategy involving a representative digital library and parallel or sequential snowballing tends to represent an appropriate alternative to be used when searching for evidence in SLRs.

Emilia Mendes, Claes Wohlin, Katia Felizardo et al.

[Context] Systematic Literature Reviews (SLRs) have been adopted by the Software Engineering (SE) community for approximately 15 years to provide meaningful summaries of evidence on several topics. Many of these SLRs are now potentially outdated, and there are no systematic proposals on when to update SLRs in SE. [Objective] The goal of this paper is to provide recommendations on when to update SLRs in SE. [Method] We evaluated, using a three-step approach, a third-party decision framework (3PDF) employed in other fields, to decide whether SLRs need updating. First, we conducted a literature review of SLR updates in SE and contacted the authors to obtain their feedback relating to the usefulness of the 3PDF within the context of SLR updates in SE. Second, we used these authors feedback to see whether the framework needed any adaptation; none was suggested. Third, we applied the 3PDF to the SLR updates identified in our literature review. [Results] The 3PDF showed that 14 of the 20 SLRs did not need updating. This supports the use of a decision support mechanism (such as the 3PDF) to help the SE community decide when to update SLRs. [Conclusions] We put forward that the 3PDF should be adopted by the SE community to keep relevant evidence up to date and to avoid wasting effort with unnecessary updates.

Daniel Méndez Fernández, Xavier Franch, Norbert Seyff et al.

Nowadays, there exist a plethora of different educational syllabi for Requirements Engineering (RE), all aiming at incorporating practically relevant educational units (EUs). Many of these syllabi are based, in one way or the other, on the syllabi provided by the International Requirements Engineering Board (IREB), a non-profit organisation devoted to standardised certification programs for RE. IREB syllabi are developed by RE experts and are, thus, based on the assumption that they address topics of practical relevance. However, little is known about to what extent practitioners actually perceive those contents as useful. We have started a study to investigate the relevance of the EUs included in the IREB Foundation Level certification programme. In a first phase reported in this paper, we have surveyed practitioners mainly from DACH countries (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) participating in the IREB certification. Later phases will widen the scope both by including other countries and by not requiring IREB-certified participants. The results shall foster a critical reflection on the practical relevance of EUs built upon the de-facto standard syllabus of IREB.

H. Villamizar, M. Kalinowski, M. Viana et al.

[Background] The rapidly changing business environments in which many companies operate is challenging traditional Requirements Engineering (RE) approaches. This gave rise to agile approaches for RE. Security, at the same time, is an essential non-functional requirement that still tends to be difficult to address in agile development contexts. Given the fuzzy notion of "agile" in context of RE and the difficulties of appropriately handling security requirements, the overall understanding of how to handle security requirements in agile RE is still vague. [Objective] Our goal is to characterize the publication landscape of approaches that handle security requirements in agile software projects. [Method] We conducted a systematic mapping to outline relevant work and contemporary gaps for future research. [Results] In total, we identified 21 studies that met our inclusion criteria, dated from 2005 to 2017. We found that the approaches typically involve modifying agile methods, introducing new artifacts (e.g., extending the concept of user story to abuser story), or introducing guidelines to handle security issues. We also identified limitations of using these approaches related to environment, people, effort and resources. [Conclusion] Our analysis suggests that more effort needs to be invested into empirically evaluating the existing approaches and that there is an avenue for future research in the direction of mitigating the identified limitations.

Daniel Méndez Fernández, Michaela Tießler, Marcos Kalinowski et al.

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.

Stefan Wagner, Daniel Méndez Fernández, Michael Felderer et al.

Requirements engineering (RE) is considerably different in agile development than in more traditional development processes. Yet, there is little empirical knowledge on the state of the practice and contemporary problems in agile RE. As part of a bigger survey initiative (Naming the Pain in Requirements Engineering), we build an empirical basis on such aspects of agile RE. Based on the responses of representatives from 92 different organisations, we found that agile RE concentrates on free-text documentation of requirements elicited with a variety of techniques. Often, traces between requirements and code are explicitly managed and also software testing and RE are aligned. Furthermore, continuous improvement of RE is performed due to intrinsic motivation. Important experienced problems include unclear requirements and communication flaws. Overall, we found that most organisations conduct RE in a way we would expect and that agile RE is in several aspects not so different from RE in other development processes.

M. Kalinowski, M. Felderer, T. Conte et al.

Many software projects fail due to problems in requirements engineering (RE). The goal of this paper is analyzing a specific and relevant RE problem in detail: incomplete/hidden requirements. We replicated a global family of RE surveys with representatives of software organizations in Austria and Brazil. We used the data to (a) characterize the criticality of the selected RE problem, and to (b) analyze the reported main causes and mitigation actions. Based on the analysis, we discuss how to prevent the problem. The survey includes 14 different organizations in Austria and 74 in Brazil, including small, medium and large sized companies, conducting both, plan-driven and agile development processes. Respondents from both countries cited the incomplete/hidden requirements problem as one of the most critical RE problems. We identified and graphically represented the main causes and documented solution options to address these causes. Further, we compiled a list of reported mitigation actions. From a practical point of view, this paper provides further insights into common causes of incomplete/hidden requirements and on how to prevent this problem.

P. Mafra, M. Kalinowski, D. Méndez Fernández et al.

Context] Problems in Requirements Engineering (RE) can lead to serious consequences during the software development lifecycle. [Goal] The goal of this paper is to propose empirically-based guidelines that can be used by different types of organisations according to their size (small, medium or large) and process model (agile or plan-driven) to help them in preventing such problems. [Method] We analysed data from a survey on RE problems answered by 228 organisations in 10 different countries. [Results] We identified the most critical RE problems, their causes and mitigation actions, organizing this information by clusters of size and process model. Finally, we analysed the causes and mitigation actions of the critical problems of each cluster to get further insights into how to prevent them. [Conclusions] Based on our results, we suggest preliminary guidelines for preventing critical RE problems in response to context characteristics of the companies.

D. Méndez Fernández, S. Wagner, M. Kalinowski et al.

Requirements Engineering (RE) has received much attention in research and practice due to its importance to software project success. Its interdisciplinary nature, the dependency to the customer, and its inherent uncertainty still render the discipline difficult to investigate. This results in a lack of empirical data. These are necessary, however, to demonstrate which practically relevant RE problems exist and to what extent they matter. Motivated by this situation, we initiated the Naming the Pain in Requirements Engineering (NaPiRE) initiative which constitutes a globally distributed, bi-yearly replicated family of surveys on the status quo and problems in practical RE. In this article, we report on the qualitative analysis of data obtained from 228 companies working in 10 countries in various domains and we reveal which contemporary problems practitioners encounter. To this end, we analyse 21 problems derived from the literature with respect to their relevance and criticality in dependency to their context, and we complement this picture with a cause-effect analysis showing the causes and effects surrounding the most critical problems. Our results give us a better understanding of which problems exist and how they manifest themselves in practical environments. Thus, we provide a first step to ground contributions to RE on empirical observations which, until now, were dominated by conventional wisdom only.