The 4+1 principles of software safety assurance and their implications for scrum

Abstract

As part of our research concerning the integration of assurance case development with Scrum, we are planning to conduct semi-structured interviews with participants to gain feedback on a proposed approach. We will be interviewing individuals who have been involved with safety-critical systems development and Agile methods. Participants will be presented with an overview of the challenges associated with applying the 4+1 software safety assurance principles to Scrum. Initial recommendations concerning how the principles can be accommodated within a Scrum development will also be presented. Participants will be led through a series of questions to gain feedback on the feasibility of the approach, and for an assessment as to whether the 4+1 principles can be addressed without compromising agility. The motivation behind this research is to gain a deeper insight into the difficulties experienced when integrating assurance case in to Scrum process.