Software process improvement in very small organizations

Abstract

When many people think of software companies, they think of the large organizations that have become so well known in the marketplace. However, a flow of offerings are also coming from smaller organizations, including very small entities (VSEs), which have 25 or fewer employees. Moreover, most products and services from big software vendors depend on third-party components and other forms of collaboration involving VSEs or small units within large organizations. Thus, small and very small organizations—which include most software startups [1] —are the global software industry’s dominant force [2] and are crucial to its competitiveness and innovation. Software process is a leading research area for software-engineering academics. And managing software process is a big challenge for practitioners. Large organizations typically have used traditional softwareprocess- improvement (SPI) models such as CMMI and ISO/IEC 15504 (also called Software Process Improvement and Capability Determination [SPICE]). Smaller organizations generally haven’t done so for many reasons, such as the perception that these efforts were developed by and for larger organizations, are costly, require much documentation and bureaucracy, and don’t clearly establish software processes [3]. For many small and very small software companies, implementing software-development management controls and structures is a major challenge. At a time when software quality is a key to competitive advantage, organizations are using only a few of the most popular ISO/IEC systems and softwareengineering standards. Research shows that small and very small companies often have difficulty relating ISO/IEC standards to their business needs and justifying their application to their business practices [4]. Most don’t see their net benefit; lack expertise; or can’t afford the necessary employees, cost, and time. In 2011, driven by VSEs’ increasing importance and growing need for systems and software life cycle profiles and guidelines, the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission jointly published a set of ISO/IEC 29110 standards and guides (available at no cost from ISO at http://standards.iso.org/ittf/PubliclyAvailableStandards/index.html). Other initiatives are devoted to small entities—some from Latin America, such as Competisoft [5] and others from Europe, such as ITmark. But ISO/IEC 29110 is becoming the widely adopted standard [6].