A Method for Balancing Short- and Long-Term Investments: Quality vs. Features

There are a number of conflicting forces between short- and long-term considerations for software release planning in industry. For example, from a business perspective it is usually desired with a short time-to-market. However, from software quality perspective it is usually desired to have a longer time-to-market such that the proper architectural mechanisms can be put in place, which in the long-term reduce development cost and addresses quality aspects. In this paper we outline some of these conflicting forces, with a focus on long-lived systems, and examplify how they impact product quality and time-to-market. In this paper we propose a simple, but useful, extension of the release planning process that addresses these conflicting forces. The method is inspired from empirical data captured in a multiple case study involving 7 companies.