A method for alignment evaluation of product strategies among stakeholders (MASS) in software intensive product development

Current practices in the industry are moving towards the market-driven development of software intensive products compared to customer-specific system development. Consequently, product management is faced with several challenges that have to be addressed as a part of the market-driven requirements engineering process. One of the important challenges is how to select the right mix of requirements, balancing short-term and long-term gains. One way to address this challenge is to utilize product strategies for selecting requirements. However, in order to do this the internal success-critical stakeholders (SCS) involved in strategies creation and requirements selection need to be aligned with respect to a product's strategic goals and objectives. This paper presents a method to enable the evaluation of degree of alignment between SCS with respect to the understanding and interpretation of a product's strategy. Further, the method not only enables the evaluation of alignment, but also specifically shows misalignment, and enables the identification of leading causes. The method has been developed in collaboration with the industry and its application is shown through a case study at Ericsson AB. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. (This paper presents a method to enable the evaluation of degree of alignment between 15 SCS with respect to the understanding and interpretation of a product's strategy. Further, the method not only enables the evaluation of alignment, but also specifically shows misalignment, and enables the 17 identification of leading causes. Themethod has been developed in collaboration with the industry and its application is shown through a case study at Ericsson AB.)

[1]  Yolande E. Chan,et al.  Assessing realized information systems strategy , 1997, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[2]  Claes Wohlin,et al.  Engineering and Managing Software Requirements , 2005 .

[3]  Barry W. Boehm,et al.  Value-based software engineering: reinventing , 2003, SOEN.

[4]  M. Porter.  What is strategy , 2000 .

[5]  Tony Gorschek,et al.  A controlled empirical evaluation of a requirements abstraction model , 2007, Inf. Softw. Technol..

[6]  Thomas A. Kappel,et al.  Perspectives on roadmaps: how organizations talk about the future , 2001 .

[7]  Tomasz Smaczny.  Is an alignment between business and information technology the appropriate paradigm to manage IT in today’s organisations? , 2001 .

[8]  Tony Gorschek,et al.  Requirements Abstraction Model , 2005, Requirements Engineering.

[9]  Paul B. Cragg,et al.  Measuring strategic alignment in small firms , 1996, Proceedings of 1996 Information Systems Conference of New Zealand.

[10]  Izak Benbasat,et al.  Factors That Influence the Social Dimension of Alignment Between Business and Information Technology Objectives , 2000, MIS Q..

[11]  Patrik Berander,et al.  Evolving Prioritization for Software Product Management , 2007 .

[12]  Björn Regnell,et al.  Eighth International Workshop on Requirements Engineering--Foundation for Software Quality (REFSQ'02) , 2003, Inf. Softw. Technol..

[13]  Tony Gorschek,et al.  Requirements engineering: In search of the dependent variables , 2008, Inf. Softw. Technol..

[14]  Barry W. Boehm,et al.  Theory-W Software Project Management: Principles and Examples , 1989, IEEE Trans. Software Eng..

[15]  Colin Potts,et al.  Invented requirements and imagined customers: requirements engineering for off-the-shelf software , 1995, Proceedings of 1995 IEEE International Symposium on Requirements Engineering (RE'95).

[16]  Claes Wohlin,et al.  Aligning Requirements with Business Objectives : A Framework for Requirements Engineering Decisions , 2005 .

[17]  Mark J. Safferstone.  Leveraging the New Infrastructure: How Market Leaders Capitalize on Information Technology , 1998 .

[18]  Khaled El Emam,et al.  A field study of requirements engineering practices in information systems development , 1995, Proceedings of 1995 IEEE International Symposium on Requirements Engineering (RE'95).

[19]  C. Merle Crawford,et al.  New Products Management , 1983 .

[20]  Claes Wohlin,et al.  Experimentation in software engineering: an introduction , 2000 .

[21]  Klaus Pohl,et al.  Product Management , 2005, Software Product Line Engineering.

[22]  Björn Regnell,et al.  Challenges in Market-Driven Requirements Engineering - an Industrial Interview Study , 2002 .

[23]  Jerry N. Luftman.  Assessing It/Business Alignment , 2003, Inf. Syst. Manag..

[24]  John C. Henderson,et al.  Strategic alignment: a model for organizational transformation via information technology , 2011 .

[25]  Jerry N. Luftman,et al.  Enablers and Inhibitors of Business-IT Alignment , 1999, Commun. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

[26]  M. Mcgrath.  Product Strategy for High Technology Companies , 2000 .

[27]  Karl T. Ulrich,et al.  Special Issue on Design and Development: Product Development Decisions: A Review of the Literature , 2001, Manag. Sci..

[28]  Michael E. Grath.  Product Strategy for High Technology Companies -2/E. , 2011 .

[29]  David E. Avison,et al.  Using and validating the strategic alignment model , 2004, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[30]  Tony Gorschek,et al.  A Method for Early Requirements Triage and Selection Utilizing Product Strategies , 2007, 14th Asia-Pacific Software Engineering Conference (APSEC'07).

[31]  Claudio U. Ciborra,et al.  De profundis? Deconstructing the concept of strategic alignment , 1997, Scand. J. Inf. Syst..

[32]  Inge van de Weerd,et al.  Towards a Reference Framework for Software Product Management , 2006, 14th IEEE International Requirements Engineering Conference (RE'06).

[33]  Sjaak Brinkkemper,et al.  A reference framework for software product management , 2006 .

[34]  James M. Utterback,et al.  Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation: How Companies Can Seize Opportunities in the Face of Technological Change , 1994 .

[35]  Raymond Papp,et al.  STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT: ANALYSIS OF PERSPECTIVES , 2006 .

[36]  Jerry N. Luftman.  Assessing Business-IT Alignment Maturity , 2000, Commun. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

[37]  P. Weill,et al.  Leveraging the New Infrastructure: How Market Leaders Capitalize on Information Technology , 1998 .

[38]  Shari Lawrence Pfleeger,et al.  Software Metrics : A Rigorous and Practical Approach , 1998 .

[39]  Erran Carmel,et al.  A process model for packaged software development , 1995 .

[40]  Bernard J. Jaworski,et al.  Market orientation: Antecedents and consequences , 1993 .