An elicitation instrument for operationalising GQM⁺Strategies (GQM⁺S-EI)

A recent approach for measurement program planning, GQM⁺Strategies, provides an important extension to existing approaches linking measurements and improvement activities to strategic goals and ways to achieve these goals. There is a need for instruments aiding in eliciting information from stakeholders to use GQM⁺Strategies. The success of GQM⁺Strategies highly depends on accurately identifying goals, strategies and information needs from stakeholders. The research aims at providing an instrument (called GQM⁺S-EI), aiding practitioners to accurately elicit information needed by GQM⁺Strategies (capturing goals, strategies and information needs). The research included two phases. In the first phase, using action research method, the GQM⁺S-EI was designed in three iterations in Ericsson AB. Thereafter, a case study was conducted to evaluate whether the information elicited with the designed instrument following the defined process was accurate and complete. We identified that the industry requires elicitation instruments that are capable to elicit information from stakeholders, not having to know about the concepts (e.g. goals and strategies). The case study results showed that our proposed instrument is capable of accurately and completely capturing the needed information from the stakeholders. We conclude that GQM⁺S-EI can be used for accurately and completely eliciting the information needed by goal driven measurement frameworks. The instrument has been successfully transferred to Ericsson AB for measurement program planning.