Abstract
Background: Agile techniques recently have received attention from the developers of safety-critical systems. However, a lack of empirical knowledge of performing safety assurance techniques, especially safety analysis in a real agile project hampers further steps. Aims: In this article, we aim at (1) understanding and optimizing the S-Scrum development process, a Scrum extension with the integration of a systems theory based safety analysis technique, STPA (System-Theoretic Process Analysis), for safety-critical systems; (2) validating the Optimized S-Scrum development process further. Method: We conducted a two-stage exploratory case study in a student project at the University of Stuttgart, Germany. Results: The results in stage 1 showed that S-Scrum helps to ensure safety of each release but is less agile than the normal Scrum. We explored six challenges on: priority management; communication; time pressure on determining safety requirements; safety planning; time to perform upfront planning; and safety requirements’ acceptance criteria. During stage 2, the safety and agility have been improved after the optimizations, including an internal and an external safety expert; pre-planning meeting; regular safety meeting; an agile safety plan; and improved safety epics and safety stories. We have also gained valuable suggestions from industry, but the generalization problem due to the specific context is still unsolved.
Keywords
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Notes
- 1.
- 2.
- 3.
The questionnaire is available: https://zenodo.org/record/439696#.WODCovl96Uk.
- 4.
- 5.
The interview guideline is available: https://zenodo.org/record/439696#.WODCovl96Uk.
- 6.
The questionnaire is available: https://zenodo.org/record/439696#.WODCovl96Uk.
- 7.
The interview guideline is available: https://zenodo.org/record/439696#.WODCovl96Uk.
References
IEC61508: Functional safety of electrical/electronic/programmable electronic safety-related systems. International Electrotechnical Commission (2010)
Turk, D., France, R., Rumpe, B.: Limitations of agile software processes. arXiv preprint arxiv:1409.6600 (2014)
Stålhane, T., Myklebust, T., Hanssen, G.K.: The application of safe Scrum to IEC 61508 certifiable software. In: 11th International Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Management Conference and the Annual European Safety and Reliability Conference (2012)
Stålhane, T., Vikash, K., Myklebust, T.: Scrum and IEC 60880. Enlarged Halden Reactor Project meeting, Storefjell, Norway (2013)
Stålhane, T.: Safety standards and Scrum A synopsis of three standards
Hanssen, G.K., Haugset, B., Stålhane, T., Myklebust, T., Kulbrandstad, I.: Quality assurance in Scrum applied to safety critical software. In: Sharp, H., Hall, T. (eds.) XP 2016. LNBIP, vol. 251, pp. 92–103. Springer, Cham (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33515-5_8
Leveson, N.: Engineering a Safer World: Systems Thinking Applied to Safety. MIT press, Cambridge (2011)
Ge, X., Richard, F.P., John, A.M.: An iterative approach for development of safety-critical software and safety arguments. In: AGILE Conference, IEEE (2010)
Vuori, M.: Agile development of safety-critical software. Tampere University of Technology 14 (2011)
Diebold, P., Ostberg, J.-P., Wagner, S., Zendler, U.: What do practitioners vary in using scrum? In: Lassenius, C., Dingsøyr, T., Paasivaara, M. (eds.) XP 2015. LNBIP, vol. 212, pp. 40–51. Springer, Cham (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18612-2_4
Cho, J.J.: An exploratory study on issues and challenges of agile software development with Scrum. All Graduate theses and dissertations (2010). 599
Williams, L., Kenny, R., Mike, C.: Driving process improvement via comparative agility assessment. In: AGILE Conference, IEEE (2010)
Cruickshank, K.J., James, B.M., Man-Tak, S.: A validation metrics framework for safety-critical software-intensive Systems. IEEE International Conference System of Systems Engineering, SoSE 2009, IEEE (2009)
Kelly, T., Rob, W.: The goal structuring notation a safety argument notation. In: Proceedings of the Dependable Systems and Networks 2004 Workshop on Assurance Cases, Citeseer (2004)
Basili, V.R.: Software modeling and measurement: the goal/question/metric paradigm (1992)
Wang, Y., Wagner, S.: Toward integrating a system theoretic safety analysis in an agile development process. In: Software Engineering (2016)
Runeson, P., Höst, M.: Guidelines for conducting and reporting case study research in software engineering. Empirical Softw. Eng. 14(2), 131 (2009)
Yin, R.K.: Case Study Research: Design and Methods. Sage publications, CA (2013)
Strauss, A., Corbin, J.M.: Grounded Theory in Practice. Sage, CA (1997)
Poller, A., Kocksch, L., Türpe, S., Epp, F.A., Kinder-Kurlanda, K.: Can security become a routine?: a study of organizational change in an agile software development group. In: Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, ACM (2017)
Myklebust, T., Stålhane, T., Lyngby, N.: The Agile Safety Plan. In: PSAM13 (2016)
Myklebust, T., Stålhane, T.: Safety stories a new concept in agile development. In: Fast Abstracts at International Conference on Computer Safety, Reliability, and Security (SAFECOMP 2016) (2016)
Garg, S.: Cucumber Cookbook. Packt Publishing Ltd, UK (2015)
Rubin, K.S.: EssentiaL Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process. Addison-Wesley, Boston (2012)
Moe, N.B., Torgeir, D., Tore, D.: A teamwork model for understanding an agile team: a case study of a Scrum project. Inf. Softw. Technol. 52(5), 480–491 (2010)
Begel, A., Nachiappan N.: Usage and perceptions of agile software development in an industrial context: an exploratory study. In: First International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement, ESEM 2007, p. 2007. IEEE (2007)
Moe, N.B., Aybüke, A., Dybå, T.: Challenges of shared decision-making: a multiple case study of agile software development. Inf. Softw. Technol. 54(8), 853–865 (2012)
Höst, M., Björn, R., Wohlin, C.: Using students as subjects a comparative study of students and professionals in lead-time impact assessment. Empirical Softw. Eng. 5(3), 201–214 (2000)
Tichy, W.F.: Hints for reviewing empirical work in software engineering. Empirical Softw. Eng. 5(4), 309–312 (2000)
Wang, Y., Wagner, S.: Towards applying a safety analysis and verification method based on STPA to agile software development. In: IEEE/ACM International Workshop on Continuous Software Evolution and Delivery (CSED), IEEE (2016)
Wang, Y., Bogicevic, I., Wagner, S.: A study of safety documentation in a Scrum development process. In: Proceedings of the XP2017 Scientific Workshops, ACM (2017)
Theocharis, G., Kuhrmann, M., Münch, J., Diebold, P.: Is Water-Scrum-Fall reality? on the use of agile and traditional development practices. In: Abrahamsson, P., Corral, L., Oivo, M., Russo, B. (eds.) PROFES 2015. LNCS, vol. 9459, pp. 149–166. Springer, Cham (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26844-6_11
Falessi, D., Juristo, N., Wohlin, C., Turhan, B., Münch, J., Jedlitschka, A., Oivo, M.: Empirical software engineering experts on the use of students and professionals in experiments. J. Empirical Softw. Eng. 1–38 (2017). Springer
Acknowledgements
We want to thank Dr. A. Nguyen-Duc for proof reading and his valuable suggestions. We are grateful to all participants involved during the case study. Finally, we want to thank all the feedback on previous versions. The first author is supported by the LGFG (Stipendien nach dem Landesgraduiertenfördergesetz).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Wang, Y., Ramadani, J., Wagner, S. (2017). An Exploratory Study on Applying a Scrum Development Process for Safety-Critical Systems. In: Felderer, M., Méndez Fernández, D., Turhan, B., Kalinowski, M., Sarro, F., Winkler, D. (eds) Product-Focused Software Process Improvement. PROFES 2017. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10611. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69926-4_23
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69926-4_23
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-69925-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-69926-4
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)