Software reuse can be defined as the process of using preexisting software artifacts rather than building them from scratch. Global Software Engineering (GSE) implies a paradigm shift towards globally distributed development teams. Requirements specifications are generally managed in industry by means of unstructured natural language (NL) requirements. However, NL is inherently ambiguous and can lead to different interpretations depending on the context. This thesis primarily focuses on a reuse-based Requirements Engineering (RE) method for GSE that specifies knowledge in the form of NL requirements. The use of a repository is proposed to arrange sets of interrelated reusable requirements into catalogues, with the purpose of managing requirements knowledge. To the best of my knowledge, there are no other proposals which tackle both issues, GSE and NL requirements reuse, jointly. My key contribution in the context of the previously mentioned method lies in: (1) devising the requirements specification techniques; (2) developing the prototypical automated tool support, based on an extensive study of the RE tools market; and (3) performing the empirical validation of the proposal.

Juan Manuel Carrillo de Gea is a Research Associate at the Software Engineering Research Group of the University of Murcia (Spain). He is interested in all aspects of software development and its applications to solve real-world problems. For updated information about Dr. Carrillo de Gea, visit his personal website at www.jmcarrillodegea.info