Traceability in Agile Projects

Agile methodologies represent a set of development processes in which both the requirements and the delivered solution evolve incrementally through a series of short iterations. Such projects are characterized by an emphasis on human interactions and collaborations, lightweight development processes, frequent deliverables, and minimal documentation (Ambler, 2004; Beck and Andres, 2004; Cockburn, 2000; Schwaber, 2004; Warden and Shore, 2007), Not surprisingly, traceability is generally perceived by agile developers as a heavy-weight and burdensome activity which returns little value to the project (Appleton, B. ACME Blog, 2005; Cleland-Huang 2006). On the other hand, agile practices are increasingly adopted in larger, distributed, and sometimes safety-critical projects, and it is often in these environments that the benefits of traceability outweigh its costs. For example, if agile methods are used to build a healthcare device, then the approval process for that device will require a demonstration that the device is safe. The Federal Drug Administration (FDA), which is responsible for approving such devices in the USA, specifically requires traceability between requirements, design, code, and test cases (USA Food and Drug Administration, 2005). For such projects, the burden is therefore placed on developers to create a project environment that establishes the necessary traceability relationships (Gotel and Finkelstein, 1994; Pinheiro FAC, 2003; Ramesh and Jarke, 2001). As explained in the chapter “Traceability Fundamentals” of this book, the traceability efforts for a project must be fit for purpose. This means that there is no “one-size-fits-all” option where traceability is concerned, and traceability decisions will vary widely across different kinds of agile projects. In this chapter we therefore explore the issues, challenges, and goals for tracing in an agile environment, and propose specific solutions that we believe balance the spirit of agility with the increasingly common challenges of scale, complexity, and compliance.