PRIUS: Applying Gamification to User Stories Prioritization

Abstract

In the context of agile development methodologies, due to the volatile nature of requirements and constant changes, prioritizing requirements is often a problem. Requirements prioritization is a complex, collaborative, continuous, cyclical, and laborious process, resulting in low engagement. Gamification is a viable strategy for improving engagement in such processes, as it enhances activities by promoting experiences akin to those found when playing games. This paper proposes a gamified approach, called PRIUS, for requirements prioritization in agile software development. The approach combines a requirements prioritization technique - Wiegers Matrix - with game elements, aiming to promote stakeholders' engagement in the activity. The PRIUS Gamified approach was developed, and a supporting system was implemented. They promote the integration of gamification elements for prioritizing agile artifacts asynchronously. A controlled experiment was conducted, comparing the gamified version of PRIUS with a non-gamified version in an academic environment. The results suggest that the gamified approach positively impacts some aspects of engagement of users in requirements prioritization using agile software development.