Using Scrum to guide the execution of software process improvement in small organizations

For software process improvement - SPI - there are few small organizations using models that guide the management and deployment of their improvement initiatives. This is largely because a lot of these models do not consider the special characteristics of small businesses, nor the appropriate strategies for deploying an SPI initiative in this type of organization. It should also be noted that the models which direct improvement implementation for small settings do not present an explicit process with which to organize and guide the internal work of the employees involved in the implementation of the improvement opportunities. In this paper we propose a lightweight process, which takes into account appropriate strategies for this type of organization. Our proposal, known as a “Lightweight process to incorporate improvements”, uses the philosophy of the Scrum agile method, aiming to give detailed guidelines for supporting the management and performance of the incorporation of improvement opportunities within processes and their putting into practice in small companies. We have applied the proposed process in two small companies by means of the case study research method, and from the initial results, we have observed that it is indeed suitable for small businesses.     

Understanding the implementation of software process improvement innovations in software organizations

Abstract. The development of software is a complex task frequently resulting in unfinished projects, project overruns and system failures. Software process improvement (SPI) approaches have been promoted as a promising remedy for this situation. The organizational implementation of such approaches is a crucial issue and attempts to introduce SPI into software organizations often fail. This paper presents a framework to understand, and subsequently successfully perform, the implementation of SPI innovations in software organizations. The framework consists of three perspectives on innovation: an individualist, a structuralist and an interactive process perspective. Applied to SPI, they emphasize different aspects of implementing SPI innovations. While the first focuses on leadership, champions and change agents, the second focuses on organization size, departmental and task differentiation and complexity, and the third perspective views the contents of the innovation, the social context and process of the implementation as related in an interactive process. We demonstrate the framework's applicability through two cases. We show that the three perspectives supplement each other and together provide a deeper understanding of the implementation process. Such understanding is crucial for the successful uptake of SPI approaches in software organizations.     

Process improvement for small organizations

Software process improvement has been a hot topic within the software industry for numerous years. Its high profile has been partly due to the introduction and industry acceptance of standard improvement models, most notably the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) developed by the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. To this end, a small organization must minimize the limitations of its smaller size and maximize the benefits inherent in its culture. The authors describe an approach to SPI that has been used successfully in an organization of approximately 150 software engineers. The authors believe their approach to process improvement has produced a noticeable shift in attitudes toward the quality system. They claim that process improvement is now seen as a living thing that constantly evolves. Thus, although not everyone agrees with all aspects of the quality system, people now are far more willing than in the past to make constructive suggestions     

Software process improvement in small organizations: a case study

The Capability Maturity Model for software has become a major force in software development process improvement. We looked at the role of process improvement in the context of a small organization. Although the Capability Maturity Model integration is replacing the CMM, we focused on the older CMM. We had to look at more than which CMM key process areas apply to small businesses. Our overall goal was to institute good software development practices, we used the language of the CMM to gain the management's cooperation. Applying these practices is essential to managing growth, yet undertaking this effort without prior experience could impede a small company's innovative nature. This case study's purpose was to investigate the success factors of a software process improvement effort for a small software development organization.     

Improvisation in small software organizations

Improvisation can give valuable insights into the relationship between action and learning in small, software-intensive organizations. As this article describes, a specific challenge involves balancing the refinement of the existing skill base with the experimentation of new ideas to find alternatives that improve on old ideas     

Agile improvement practices in software organizations

Inspired by the chasm between early adopters and early majority in diffusion of technological innovations, this paper investigates how agile improvement practices can help software organizations successfully implement new processes. An action research-based improvement initiative implemented a new change-request process and tool at the telecom company Ericsson AB in Gothenburg, Sweden. The study identifies a ‘guerilla tactic’ that change agents can use in software organizations to cross the chasm, and it discusses lessons learned in relation to literature on diffusion of innovation and software agility. The contribution of the study is that the guerrilla tactic supports agile improvement practices and facilitates successful implementation.     

基于小型软件企业的软件过程改进模型的研究

软件过程改进是小型软件企业提高软件质量和生产率的必经之路.文章分析了集成软件能力成熟度模型CMMI、个体软件过程PSP和群组软件过程TSP三者之间的关系,并结合我国小型软件企业的特点,提出了一种适用于小型软件企业的过程改进模型.     

Applying grounded theory to understand software process improvement implementation: a study of Brazilian software organizations

Despite the fact that organizations recognize the importance of implementing software process improvement (SPI) to enhance software development capabilities, recent studies show that many organizations still struggle to successfully implement SPI. These studies demonstrate that most SPI initiatives fail due to their incapacity to overcome social–cultural critical barriers, such as lack of motivation and higher management support. Therefore, the accurate understanding of the context where SPI occurs may facilitate the development of more efficient SPI implementation strategies aiming to overcome those difficulties. The objective of this work was to present a Grounded Theory-based study that investigated SPI implementation initiatives conducted by Brazilian software organizations. The main product of this study is a theoretical framework that tries and explains the phenomenon associated to the success of SPI implementation initiatives. The theoretical framework constituted a set of interrelated SPI domain entities supported by a set of propositions assessed by experienced Brazilian SPI consultants. We expect that such theoretical framework can facilitate SPI implementation by providing better understating of the dependency relationships among critical success factors that may jeopardize SPI initiatives.     

Improving software process improvement

Two dichotomies characterize software process improvement efforts and approaches: disciplined versus creative work and procurer risks versus user satisfaction. Based on these perspectives, the authors introduce six theses to illuminate the problems of pursuing SPI.     

SPICE: Overview for software process improvement

This paper presents the original software process model (currently called n 1) as 1) as it has been developed by the SPICE project and delivered to ISO in June 1995 to become the international reference for process assessment. This model is used for software process assessments, in order to compare the actual status of an organization's software processes, to the requirements of the model. The process profile resulting from the assessment is used as a major input for a process improvement initiative.     

Managing change in software process improvement

Software process improvement has become the primary approach to improving software quality and reliability, employee and customer satisfaction, and return on investment. Although the literature acknowledges that SPI implementation faces various problems, most published cases report success, detailing dramatic improvements. Such best-practice cases are a great benefit when learning how to effectively implement SPI. On the basis of experiences from SPI initiatives and insights into organizational-change management, we offer the following advice for successful SPI implementation: software managers must appreciate that each SPI initiative is unique and carefully negotiate the context of change. Managers must also understand the elements of change involved. SPI can't succeed without managerial commitment and a mastery of appropriate change tactics.     

Software process improvement in small and medium software enterprises: a systematic review

Small and medium enterprises are a very important cog in the gears of the world economy. The software industry in most countries is composed of an industrial scheme that is made up mainly of small and medium software enterprises—SMEs. To strengthen these types of organizations, efficient Software Engineering practices are needed—practices which have been adapted to their size and type of business. Over the last two decades, the Software Engineering community has expressed special interest in software process improvement (SPI) in an effort to increase software product quality, as well as the productivity of software development. However, there is a widespread tendency to make a point of stressing that the success of SPI is only possible for large companies. In this article, a systematic review of published case studies on the SPI efforts carried out in SMEs is presented. Its objective is to analyse the existing approaches towards SPI which focus on SMEs and which report a case study carried out in industry. A further objective is that of discussing the significant issues related to this area of knowledge, and to provide an up-to-date state of the art, from which innovative research activities can be thought of and planned.

Process improvement: an alternative to BPR for software development organizations

Whereas BPR (Business Process Re-engineering or Business Process Re-design) is being offered as a means by which organizations may be able to respond to the challenge of increased competition, Process Improvement, on the other hand aims to improve productivity, product quality and competitive advantage. Fundamentally, both activities offer a means by which organizations may be able to deal with a rapidly changing business environment, through internal change. BPR extends the concept of process change (albeit rapid change through innovation) to include changes to the basic assumptions and principles of management. The results, however are not positive: estimates of between 50 and 70% of firms fail to achieve the expected dramatic gains from BPR. An alternative to BPR for software development organizations is Process Assessment and Process Improvement. This paper presents a Process/Product Quality Model which incorporates three separate evaluations: process conformance, process effectiveness and product quality as a means of evaluating what is, i.e. the current status of activities, within a software development organization. The model aims to identify possible areas for process improvement and to uncover all relevant issues which may affect attempts to implement improvement initiatives. Preliminary findings from a set of case studies conducted within software development organizations in Australia are presented in support of the usefulness of the model.     

SEL's software process improvement program

We select candidates for process change on the basis of quantified Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) experiences and clearly defined goals for the software. After we select the changes, we provide training and formulate experiment plans. We then apply the new process to one or more production projects and take detailed measurements. We assess process success by comparing these measures with the continually evolving baseline. Based upon the results of the analysis, we adopt, discard, or revise the process     

软件过程改进框架

在软件开发过程中,软件工程师以及软件组织不可避免地会遇到各种困难,尤其是软件组织在实施能力成熟度模型(CMM)过程中面对的各种挑战.根据对CMM研究的体会与实践经验,提出了以集成的能力成熟度模型(CMMI)为基础,以个体软件过程和群组软件过程为支持的软件过程改进框架.     

Integration of strategic management, process improvement and quantitative measurement for managing the competitiveness of software engineering organizations

Strategic management is a key discipline that permits companies to achieve their competitive goals. An effective and explicit alignment and integration of business strategy with SPI initiatives based on measurement is essential to prevent loss of income, customers and competitiveness. By integrating SPI models and measurement techniques in the strategy management process, an organization’s investments will be better aligned with strategy, optimizing the benefits obtained as a result of an SPI program. In this paper, the authors propose BOQM (Balanced Objective-Quantifiers Methodology) that integrates properly strategic management, process improvement and quantitative measurement to manage the competitiveness of software engineering organizations. Finally, this paper presents and discusses the results from implementing BOQM in a software development organization.     

People, organizations, and process improvement

In their efforts to determine how technology affects the software development process, researchers often overlook organizational and social issues. The authors report on two experiments to discover how developers spend their time. They describe how noncoding activities can use up development time and how even a reluctance to use e-mail can influence the development process. The first experiment was to see how programmers thought they spent their time by having them fill out a modified time card reporting their activities, which we called a time diary. In the second experiment, we used direct observation to calibrate and validate the use of time diaries, which helped us evaluate how time was actually being used     

A software development process for small projects

The authors' software development process integrates portions of an iterative, incremental process model with a quality assurance process and a measurement process that is used for process improvement. Their process aims to produce high-quality and timely results with less overhead     

How software process improvement helped Motorola

Many organizations are using or considering the Capability Maturity Model as a vehicle for software process improvement. But does the CMM provide real benefits? The authors offer metrics and data that show the results of Motorola's CMM usage     

The economics of software process improvement

Software process improvement is gaining momentum throughout the software industry. Many cities now have nonprofit SPIN (Software Process Improvement Network) groups. In a visible sign that process improvement is now a mainstream technology, SPIN's national conference in Boston last spring drew several thousand attendees. Another sign is the frequency of journal articles devoted to process improvement. However, as often happens with software, process improvement articles tend to be theoretical. Comparatively little solid, empirical data is being published on three important topics: what does it cost to improve software processes? How long will it take to make tangible improvements? What kind of value can be expected in terms of better quality, productivity, or user satisfaction? The paper condenses some of my findings, which are based on studies of leading software producers in the United States, Europe, South America, and the Pacific Rim