A comparative study of software quality using the hybrid agile software development lifecycle and the plan-driven development model

Abstract

Software development methodology is a series of processes that is necessary for software development to achieve a good quality software. Software development methodology can be divided into three general established approaches: the plan-driven development model, agile methodologies, and hybrid agile model. Agile methodologies are difficult to adapt for businesses that have strict timeline from its clients; thus, companies, especially software development houses, prefer the plan-driven development model or hybrid agile model as the models to be referred to in a software project. However, which software model between the plan-driven development model and the hybrid agile model which is widely used by software development houses will result in higher-quality software? To answer the question, this research investigates the plan-driven development model and hybrid agile model for comparison of the software quality produced by the software engineers. This research is empirical research adopting an experimental study to compare the internal quality of a plan-driven development model with a hybrid agile model involving a group of software engineers who were divided into two groups; one group using the Hybrid Agile model, WaterScrumFall while the other be using a plan-driven development model, the Waterfall model. The outcomes of this study shows that the complexity of the code, measured by the Average Cyclomatic Complexity (ACC); the lines of codes indicates the size and scale of the codebase; and the dependencies between objects specifically addressing structural quality through metrics like Coupling between Objects (CBO) and Lack of Cohesion in Methods (LCOM). The less complex project with low coupling between objects and cohesion in methods will contribute to high-quality source code and easier project management and maintenance, and it will also be cost effective. As a result, the team that implements Hybrid Agile model produce lower ACC and CBO, but higher LCOM compared to the team that applies plan-driven methodology. This research concludes that the Hybrid Agile model produces better software quality than the plan-driven methodology. This research will contribute to the benefit of knowing which model will produce better internal software quality and provide better insights for developers on which software development methodology may lead to software that is less complexity with a minimal line of codes, less coupling between methods, and more lack cohesion method.