Requirements lifecycle management and release planning in market-driven requirements engineering processes

In market-driven software evolution, the objectives of a requirements engineering process include the continuous management of new and changed requirements in a way that ensures competitiveness in the market place. This paper compares two independently developed industrial market-driven requirements engineering processes, which both apply continuous requirements management using state-oriented life cycle models in the fostering of requirements from invention to release. Similarities and differences between the models are identified, and opportunities of lifecycle-oriented requirements management are recognized. The challenge of release planning is elaborated, with a particular focus on the crucial task of managing requirements dependencies.