Techniques and Case Studies

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Techniques and Case Studies



Information Science Reference | ISBN 978-1-59904-906-9 | Author: Hanna Oktaba & Mario Piattini | English | PDF | 395 Pages | 9.00 MB (.RAR - 4.73 MB)

Preface
From the very beginning of the 1990s onward, the software engineering community (industry and researchers) has expressed special interest in software process improvement (SPI). This is evidenced by the growing number of books, articles, and conferences that deal with the topic of SPI and the great number of international initiatives related to SPI such as CMM®, CMMI®, ISO/IEC 12207, 15504, and ISO 90003, among others. Nevertheless, these standards and models are conceived for big organizations like USA DoD, NASA, multinational software factories, and so forth. In fact, there is a widespread tendency to emphasize that the success of SPI is only possible for large companies that have enough resources to tackle these types of practices. This perception is based on the fact that SPI programs are just not viable for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) because of their organizational structure and the high costs that are involved. However, the software industry in most countries is made up mainly of SMEs which favorate the growth of national economies. Most software development organizations (nearly 90%) are SMEs which contribute to very valuable and widespread products. Almost all the experts agree that the special characteristics of SMEs mean that process improvement programs must be applied in a way that is particular to them and visibly different from how this is done in the large organizations. This is not as simple as just regarding these programs as scaled down versions of those applied in big companies. In fact, the assessments conformant to the international standards are expensive and time consuming, difficult to perform in small companies, their process model structure is too complex, and the return of investment undertaken has to be seen from a long-term perspective. The first International Research Workshop for Process Improvement in Small Settings organized by the Software Engineering Institute (October 2005), the new ISO/IEC JTC1 SC7 Working Group 24, which was created (2006) to develop the “Software
Life Cycle Profiles and Guidelines for use in Very Small Enterprises (VSE),” and several other initiatives have demonstrated the increasing interest for new proposals and experiences in software improvement for SMEs. SMEs have become concerned about how to improve the capability of their software processes, as a fundamental element to increase product quality, addressing two main concerns: the first one has to do with their image, which is a key factor in order to be able to export software and hence enter the global marketplace; and the other concern is related to the efficiency and effectiveness of software process management. Also, different countries like Mexico, Spain, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, and so on have developed local programs to promote the improvement of their software industry, especially focused on SMEs. As a result, several maturity and improvement models have been developed and successful experiences have been carried out. Therefore, in this context, we present this book, the main
objective of which is to provide practical and useful guidelines, models, and techniques for improving software processes in SMEs and collecting real case studies and lessons learned, as successful examples of experiences in improving software process capability.


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