Agile requirements prioritization in large-scale outsourced system projects: An empirical study

The application of agile practices for requirements prioritization is a relatively recent trend. Hence, not all of its facets are well-understood. This exploratory study sets out to uncover the concepts that practitioners in a large software organization use in the prioritization process and the practices that they deem good. The study was carried out as a series of three embedded case studies in a large and mature company engaged in outsourced software development. Our grounded theory analysis of in-depth interviews yielded the following findings: (i) Understanding requirements dependencies is of paramount importance for the successful deployment of agile approaches in typical large outsourced projects. (ii) Next to business value, the most important prioritization criterion in the setting of typical outsourced large agile projects is risk. (iii) The software organization developed a new artefact that seems to be a worthwhile contribution to agile software development in the large: 'Delivery Stories', which complement user stories with technical implications, effort estimation and associated risk. These play a pivotal role in prioritization. (iv) The vendor's domain knowledge is key asset for setting up successful client-developer collaboration (v) The use of agile prioritization practices depends on the type of project outsourcing arrangement.