It´s the Activities, Stupid! A New Perspective on RE Quality

[Context] Requirements Engineering (RE) artifacts are central items in software development: Their quality is of essential importance for development, testing and other software engineering activities. However, as requirements artifacts are used differently in different processes, the proper definition of what is good quality depends on the context under consideration. [Problem] So far, no methodology exists that enables to define context-specific RE artifact quality in a precise manner. [Principle Idea] We define context-specific RE artifact quality by how quality attributes of an RE artifact impact on the activities of the software development process in which this artifact is used. [Contribution] In this paper, we introduce a methodology to define RE artifact quality specifically to a project-or process context. Furthermore, we provide a preliminary technical validation as well as an industrial validation on the application of our approach. Our studies indicate that the activity-based approach enables defining and validating RE quality in a precise and systematic manner. The industrial validation furthermore suggests the applicability of the approach in practical use.