Towards Release Planning Generic Model: Market-driven software development perspective Bassey Isong Computer Science and Information Systems, University of Venda, Private Bag X5050, Thohoyandou 0950, South Africa Abstract Several techniques to achieve software release planning (RP) in market-driven software development (MDSD) exist. One of such approaches is prioritization due to large volume of requirements that often can’t be implemented at once. However, the task of selecting optimal sets of features for a particular release is challenging due to complex and fuzzy dependencies that often impact RP decisions negatively. In addition, existing RP models are not generic and known to only address limited requirements selection factors, making it impossible for engineers to choose a model that suits a particular application. Therefore, a generic RP model that supports all selection factors and allows users to define their needed factors is indispensable. To this end, the objective of this paper is to bring into light the challenges of RP, and proposed an approach for representing dependencies among requirements. In addition, the study proposes a generic framework for RP based on the EVOLVE* Model. The proposed model will also allows for re-planning, assist MDSD organization to improve the quality of the selection and deliver quality products with attractive sets of features to have a competitive edge. 1. Introduction In today’s e-society, software development has become extremely a complicated and a critical activity due to extensive advanced technology usage, the growing awareness for software products usage and market demand. However, such remarkable progresses have not yet been balanced by software engineering practices. Requirements engineering (RE) is one of the key activities that deals with the discovery, documentation, communication and implementation of software requirements [1]. Unfortunately, RE processes are not sufficiently understood and poses huge challenges to organizations. The situation is exacerbated in today’s market-driven software development (MDSD) environment where the requirements are characterized by large volumes and continuous changes throughout the course of a project [2],[3]. This stems from the fact that MDSD have no specific identifiable customers and the requirements are often invented [4]. MDSD objective is to attain a competitive advantage by taking a reasonable market share, attract wide range of customers and amassing profits [2]. This is usually achieved by a good software release planning (RP) [5],[6],[7]. It constitutes a determinant factor of the success or failure of a company’s product in the market. However, achieving such objectives is challenging and though is critical to software product development [5]. RP is one of the most recognized activities that challenged several organizations developing for the mass market [2],[8],[9]. The problems that stems from RP has been described as “wicked” [10], involving a complex decision-making activity. In particular, such decisions have become even more complex with large number of stakeholders since it often yields more requirements that cannot be implemented at once [8]. This requires that requirements should be prioritized in order to that the most important ones are met by the earliest product releases. Prioritizing requirements has been recognized as a sub- problem of RP, a crucial activity involving the selection of requirements based on a set of criteria such as scheduling, stakeholders, resource planning and interdependencies [11]. Regrettably, selecting requirements based on priorities has been known to be difficult, if not impossible since most requirements cannot be treated independently due to complex dependences [3],[5]. Consequently, decisions made to one or many requirements may impact others in ways not expected during development [12]. Hence, dependencies among requirements have to be taken seriously in order to enhance the process of prioritization which in turn facilitates quality product release plan in MDSD. Planning a product release in MDSD inevitably involves dealing with all categories 498 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT) Vol. 2 Issue 8, August - 2013 ISSN: 2278-0181 www.ijert.org IJERTV2IS80082