Current Practices and Required Knowledge of Non-Functional Requirements Elicitation in Agile Context: Key Results of an Empirical Study
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Abstract
The Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs) play a crucial role in guaranteeing the security, usability, reliability, performance, and effectiveness of the system, underscoring their significant importance. Nevertheless, within Agile methodologies, NFRs are frequently overlooked until the later stages of the Agile process. The primary hurdle in the domain of Agile requirements elicitation lies in the absence of early-phase guidelines for eliciting NFRs. Even though the guidelines for NFRs elicitation are considered important, the empirical studies on the current elicitation practices of NFRs in the Agile context are notably scarce, especially those related to security ones. Also, there is a lack of empirical studies on the elicitation knowledge of NFRs. Therefore, this study was surveyed to investigate the current elicitation practices and the required knowledge of NFRs focusing on security requirements (SRs) in Agile environments. The survey utilized the questionnaire to collect the data, which included 46 questions with sub-questions. These questions were answered by 121 software practitioners. The questionnaire outcomes dened sixteen (16) practices of NFRs elicitation and ten (10) practices of SRs elicitation. Also, the study dened the required knowledge for elicitation in an Agile context. On top of that, the vast majority of respondents agree that the guidelines for NFR elicitation are significant and will help enhance the understanding of the stakeholders about the elicitation process. Thus, the outcomes of this study will be used to propose a guideline for NFR elicitation in an Agile context.
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