An extension of the GQM⁺Strategies approach with formal causal reasoning

Abstract

© 2017 Elsevier B.V. Context: Successful organizations need to manage and synchronize their strategic objectives with daily operations and activities. In general, achieving that requires a continuous process of organizational alignment. GQM+Strategies is an approach that helps software organizations with documenting and aligning organizational goals and strategies, and developing measurement programs. Objective: In this paper, the GQM+Strategies approach is further evolved and extended to include capabilities to evaluate the relationships of organizational goals and strategies through causal analysis. Method: We used an analytical paradigm to develop a formal causal model over the GQM+Strategies structure. In addition, an empirical pre-experimental study was designed to test practitioners’ abilities to provide necessary input for the formal causal model. Results: A developed formal causal model over the GQM+Strategies structure allows the use of causal reasoning for the purpose of analyzing dependencies among chosen sets of goals. We illustrate this by showing how to analyze the impact of risky goals on other goals in the grid. The results of the empirical study showed that the practitioners had no difficulties providing their predictions, i.e. inputs into the causal model. Conclusion: The proposed solution extends the existing GQM+Strategies knowledge base by further elaborating and clarifying the process of creating grids by introducing causality theory. The use of causality theory allows experts to quantify their knowledge and beliefs regarding the effectiveness of organizational strategies. As a part of future work, formal causal models and causal reasoning can be implemented as a supporting software tool for the GQM+Strategies approach.