Evidence-Based Quality-Aware Agile Software Development Process: Design and Evaluation

Agile software development (ASD) aims to deliver high-quality software. However, software quality often receives less attention in ASD due to focus on functionality. Elicit requirements for, design, validate, implement, and evaluate an evidence-based quality-aware ASD process that organizations can use for better integration of quality management. Using design science research, we collaborated for over 1.5 years with four organizations applying ASD. Involving a total of 35 practitioners, we designed new evidence-based quality-aware ASD processes, which were validated through simulated scenarios, implemented, and evaluated by the practitioners. A general ASD process model, derived from the company-specific models, was created; it shows activities, artifacts, roles, and development phases where evidence can be used to improve software quality. The new process model contributed to higher quality awareness, improved bottleneck identification, release readiness, and quality issues prioritization in the studied companies. We also learned that companies must be mindful of the rules that determine the use of evidence. Integrating the use of quality related evidence into the ASD process can make it quality-aware, support software quality management, and enable timely reaction through fast feedback loops. The evidence-based quality-aware ASD process is applicable in any Scrum-like ASD process. Applicability in other forms of ASD, however, requires further research.