Evaluation of a scenario-based reading technique for analysing process components

To improve a working process, one or more process components can be replace d by innovative ones. The literature provides a possible source of innovati ve process components. However, it is often difficult to evaluate whether a particular innovative process component satisfying an improvement goal can be introduced to replace a process component in the working software proce ss to be improved, In previous works, the authors of this paper proposed a characterization and evaluation framework to address the above problem. To improve the usability of the framework, a scenario was defined for each que stion to help the user answer it methodically. The experiment presented in this paper aims to verify if a scenario-based reading technique improves th e usability of the framework, The results obtained show that the technique proposed makes assessment of which process components of a working process are candidates for making innovation more reliable. Moreover, the scenario- based reading technique is user independent and only a little training may be sufficient to sensibly improve the effectiveness of use of the scenarios . The trustworthy results of this technique and its independence of the use r's previous knowledge and ability ensure that it can be applied methodical ly, Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.