Concerns in Software Development: A Systematic Mapping Study

Context: Successfully addressing stakeholder concerns that are related to software system development and operation is crucial to achieving development goals. The importance of using a systematic approach to addressing these concerns throughout the software development life cycle is growing as more and more systems are employed to handle critical tasks. Objective: The goal of this study is to provide an overview of addressing concerns across the software development life cycle. Method: A systematic mapping study was conducted using a pre-defined protocol. Four digital databases were searched for research literature and primary studies were selected after a three round selection process conducted by multiple researchers. Results: The extracted data are processed and the results are reported from different viewpoints. The results are also analyzed against our research goals. Conclusion: We show that there is a considerable variation in the use of terminologies and addressing concerns in different phases of the software development life cycle.