Abstracts
E185EW
TA: David Luong
An Abstract
Requirements management is being recognized as one of the most important albeit difficult
phases in software engineering. The literature repeatedly cites the role of well-defined
requirements and requirements management process in problem analysis and project
management as benefiting software development throughout the life cycle: during design,
coding, testing, maintenance and documentation of software. However, management is
often oblivious of this concept, steering off-course in projects where lost time equals lost
revenue. This paper reports on the findings of an investigation into industrial practice of
requirements management process improvement and its positive effects on downstream
software development. The evidence reveals a strong relationship between a well-defined
requirements process and increased developer productivity, improved project planning
through better estimations and enhanced ability for stakeholders to negotiate project scope.
These results are important since there is little empirical evidence of the actual benefits of
sound requirements practice, in spite of the plethora of claims in the literature. An account of
these effects not only adds to our understanding of good requirements practice but also
provides strong motivation for software organizations to develop programs for improvement
of their requirements processes.
Purpose
• Selection
– Helps readers decide whether to read the entire
paper
• Indexing
– Facilitates searching on online databases using
keywords and phrases
The Elements
•
•
•
•
Motivation/Problem Statement
Approach
Results
Conclusions
• Example
– Requirements Engineering and Software Development
Review
• You already know this…what are the 5
elements of a problem statement?
Status Quo
Destabilizing Moment
Questions
Consequences
Solution (not necessarily needed for your case study)
Motivation/Problem Statement
•
Basically you want to state why we care about the problem.
•
If not obviously interesting, you’ll need to motivate it.
•
Use the 5 elements of a problem statement, some of which may be designated to
the other elements of an abstract.
•
Example:
•
"Requirements management is being recognized as one of the most important
albeit difficult phases in software engineering. The literature repeatedly cites the
role of well-defined requirements and requirements management process in
problem analysis and project management as benefiting software development
throughout the life cycle: during design, coding, testing, maintenance and
documentation of software. However, management is often oblivious of this
concept, steering off-course in projects where lost time equals lost revenue.”
Approach
• How did you solve the problem or make progress
in your attempt?
• Example:
• “This paper reports on the findings of an
investigation into industrial practice of
requirements management process improvement
and its positive effects on downstream software
development. ”
Results
• What are your findings from your approach?
• “The evidence reveals a strong relationship
between a well-defined requirements process
and increased developer productivity,
improved project planning through better
estimations and enhanced ability for
stakeholders to negotiate project scope.”
Conclusions
• What are the implications of your results?
• “These results are important since there is little
empirical evidence of the actual benefits of
sound requirements practice, in spite of the
plethora of claims in the literature. An account of
these effects not only adds to our understanding
of good requirements practice but also provides
strong motivation for software organizations to
develop programs for improvement of their
requirements processes.”
Abstract Activity
•
In the personal computing world, Intel plays the dominant role in inventing microprocessor technologies. The
company sets the processor standards and most consumer level software are created to run on the systems using
Intel's chips. Since the 1960's, the complexity of its processors has increased significantly and the company
seemed to manage various issues very well until the crisis in 1994 happened. In 1993, the new Pentium processor,
also called P5, was released to the public. The new chip promised faster computing and better experience over the
previous 80486 chip. The Pentium chip was a huge success worldwide, following the legacies of the predecessors.
However, about a year after the initial release, a problem was perceived by mathematics professor Thomas Nicely.
After confirming the chip flaw through various tests, Dr. Nicely notified Intel of the problem. However, having the
knowledge of the flaw even before his call, Intel tried to cover up the problem by ignoring that such a flaw does
not exist. Unfortunately, the words got out from people, whom Dr. Nicely had also sent the message to, and took a
widespread in the media. Eventually, after a couple of months later, Intel had to provide replacements for all the
chips they sold, costing the company a huge fortune when only a portion could have been wasted if the problem
was dealt earlier. The following sections will cover the issues that Intel experienced as a large corporation and
discuss ethical conflicts the company faced over the period. As executives of an IT company, readers are
encouraged to think about the nature of the problem and how these ethical lapses may be prevented in case of
similar events occurring in the future.
•
Break off into your teams. Read the abstract.
– Team 4: Motivation/Problem Statement
– Team 5: Approach/Results
– Team 6: Conclusions
Discuss the following in regards to your Abstract Element:
– What works well in this abstract?
– What is problematic?
– What would you change?
•
A Better Revision?
• In the personal computing world, Intel plays the dominant
role in inventing microprocessor technologies. The
company sets the processor standards and most consumer
level software are created to run on the systems using
Intel's chips. Since the 1960's, the complexity and reliability
of its processors increased significantly until the FDIV bug
and cover up in 1994. The paper is directed to IT executives
and cover the historical details of the Pentium error. The
case reveals a strong relationship between popular ethical
frameworks and the decisions Intel made in resolving the
issue with the public. An account of this case not only adds
to our understanding of engineering events in the realworld but also provides a connection between the technical
decisions made and their ethical implications.
References
• Koopman, Phillip, “How to Write an Abstract,”
URL:
http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~koopman/essays/abstract.h
tml
• Damian, D., Chisan, J., Lakshminarayanan, V., Yogendra,
P., “Requirements Engineering and Downstream
Software Development: Findings from a Case Study,”
URL: http://alarcos.infcr.uclm.es/doc/MetoTecInfInf/casosEstudio/case%20st
udy%203.pdf
Self Reflection
• On your essay you’ll turn in today, please
answer the following questions:
• What are you satisfied in your draft?
• What gave you difficulties?
• What would you like the TA to address in his
review of your paper?
• How long did you spend writing your draft?