Software engineering standards and guides for very small entities: implementation in two start-ups

Very small entities, enterprises, organizations, projects or departments with up to 25 people, are very important to the worldwide economy. However it has ben established that such entities often do not utilize existing standards and frameworks. To address the needs of Very Small Entities (VSEs), a set of international standards and guides known as ISO/IEC 29110 has been developed. In this paper we present the results of early trials of this standard in two IT start-ups VSEs. A Peruvian VSE was recently audited and issued an ISO/IEC 29110 certificate of conformity

Understanding the role of knowledge management in software development: a case study in very small companies

Software and systems engineering is distinct from other forms of engineering as it deals with an intangible product, where the progress in construction is not explicitly visible and team members often rely on the docu- mentation of others to follow and review progress. Furthermore unlike traditional engineering disciplines, there is no single standardized unified process. The role of knowledge management in the software engineering literature is becoming more evident, as the software development activity is essentially a human knowledge intensive activity and is seen by many as a key factor. This paper discusses the role of software development knowledge management within software development process and specifically how software development knowledge is managed in software development in order to support software process improvement and the role of knowledge management in this. The authors present the results of a study of knowledge management process practices in very small software companies and discusses these under the major identified issues of: Communication; Learning and sharing; Documentation and Knowledge management process and com- mitment. The findings in this study give an insight towards knowledge management practices as they relate to software development process practices in very small companies and the important factors that must be considered to preserve knowledge and quality software

Um Deployment Package de implementação dos processos do perfil básico da norma ISO/IEC 29110

TCC(graduação) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Centro Tecnológico. Sistemas de Informação.O mercado de software tem crescido a cada ano, clientes mais exigentes e o aumento da concorrência são reflexos deste crescimento, neste mercado competitivo a qualidade cabe como um fator importante para destacar empresas no mercado. Considerando estes fatores, surge a necessidade das empresas gerenciarem o processo de desenvolvimento de software para gerar produtos com qualidade, e assim aumentar as chances de permanência e possivelmente destaque no mercado. Como alternativa de solução, normas e modelos de referência para qualidade têm sido desenvolvidas no intuito de proporcionar as melhores práticas a partir da definição de processos, que seguidos visam fornecer qualidade no processo de desenvolvimento do software e consequentemente no produto final. Considerando que micro e pequenas empresas constituem grande parcela do mercado de software, surge a necessidade de normas que atendam especificamente este perfil. Com este propósito foi desenvolvida a norma ISO/IEC 29110 especialmente para atender as necessidades das micro e pequenas empresas e assim proporcionar qualidade em seus processos. Entretanto, essas entidades, de forma geral, não possuem uma cultura de aderência a normas e isso dificulta o processo de adoção, para este obstáculo existem guias que facilitam a implantação de normas, fornecendo um detalhamento sobre os processos e formas de implementação nos negócios. Este trabalho pretendeu auxiliar as micro e pequenas empresas facilitando o processo de implementação da norma ISO/IEC 29110, teve como o objetivo o desenvolvimento de um guia de referência de processo para fornecer técnicas, ferramentas e melhores práticas na forma de um Deployment Package. O DP foi desenvolvido utilizando a ferramenta EPF e avaliado por meio de painel de especialistas. Os resultados iniciais obtidos da avaliação indicam que o DP pode ser facilmente utilizado como material de apoio à implantação dos processos, influenciando na adequação e implementação na organização, com o objetivo de tornar o processo mais simples e eficiente.The software market has been growing each year, more demanding customers and increased competition are reflections of this growth, in this competitive market the quality is an important factor to highlight companies in the market. Considering these factors, there is a need for companies to manage the software development process to produce products with quality, thereby increasing the chances of permanence and possibly prominence in the market. As an alternative solution, process reference models and standards have been developed in order to provide best practices which aim to provide quality in the software development process and consequently in the final product. Whereas micro and small enterprises constitute a large portion of the software market, there is a need for standards that specifically meet this profile. With this purpose the ISO/IEC 29110 was developed specifically to meet the needs of micro and small enterprises and thus provide quality in their processes. However, these companies generally do not have a culture of adherence to standards and this complicates the process of adoption, to overcome these obstacles there are guides that facilitate the implementation of standards, providing a breakdown of the processes and ways of implementation. This work aims to assist micro and small enterprises by facilitating the ISO/IEC 29110 implementation, has the objective of developing a process reference guide that provides techniques, tools and best practices in the form of a Deployment Package (DP). The DP is developed using EPF tool and evaluated by an expert panel. The initial results obtained from the evaluation indicate that the DP can easily be used as material to support for processes implementation, influencing the adequacy and standard adoption by organizations, with the aim to make processes simple and efficient

Investigating the relationship between software process improvement, situational change, and business success in software SMEs

While we have learned a great deal from Software Process Improvement (SPI) research to date, no earlier study has been designed from the outset to examine the relationship between SPI and business success in software development small- to- medium- sized companies (software SMEs). Since business processes are generally acknowledged as having an important role to play in supporting business success, it follows that the software development process (a large and complex component of the overall business process) has an important contribution to make in supporting business success in software development companies. However, to date we have very little evidence regarding the role of SPI in supporting business success, especially for software SMEs. The need for SPI is dependent on the extent of situational change in a software development setting, and therefore any examination of the relationship between SPI and business success would be deficient if it did not also examine the extent of situational change. Therefore, this thesis describes a novel approach to examining SPI, situational change and business success in software development companies. Furthermore, having discharged this new approach to 15 software SMEs, this thesis makes the important new discovery that the amount of SPI implemented in a software SME is positively associated with the extent of business success – especially when the degree of situational change is taken into account. This thesis describes the first published study to examine the relationship between SPI, situational change and business success in software SMEs. The findings suggest that there are business benefits to implementing SPI in software SMEs, with the degree of situational change being an important factor informing SPI initiatives. Furthermore, this research has yielded valuable new insights into the nature of SPI, situational change and business success in software SMEs

Strategic HRM. Research and practice in Ireland

This brief introduction will set the context for this book while also providing an overview of the various chapters. It is now some fi fteen years since Roche et al.’s (1998) edited volume explored strategic human resource management (SHRM) in Ireland from a research-based perspective. The intervening years have seen a signifi cant increase in SHRM research by Irish scholars, coupled with the proliferation of specialist undergraduate and masters’ level SHRM programmes (Carbery et al., 2013). In terms of the human resource (HR) profession in Ireland, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has witnessed a dramatic 80 per cent increase in membership since the 1980s. These developments highlight the necessity for continuous theoretical refl ection and empirical scrutiny of SHRM practice. The purpose of this book is to provide an integrated overview of both theory and evidence of the practice of strategic HRM in an Irish context. Broadly understood, SHRM involves a focus on linking human resource management (HRM) to business strategy, designing high performance work systems (HPWSs) and adding value through good people management in an attempt to gain sustained competitive advantage (Boselie, 2010; Delery and Doty, 1996). At the same time, SHRM is subject to multiple interpretations and sometimes contested meanings. This book therefore aims to provide empirically informed insights to illuminate current thinking around SHRM, including a critical analysis of its relevance, application and development in an Irish context. Reflecting the richness, diversity and breadth of SHRM expertise in Ireland, the book draws on the insights of twenty-one contributors representing some nine different institutions. In so doing, we believe it will prove an invaluable resource for undergraduates specialising in SHRM and masters’ students requiring up-to-date knowledge about people management practices and processes, while also serving as a reflective resource for experienced executives

A study of software development team dynamics in SPI.

The software development team is a key factor in software projects, however, achieving and maintaining positive team dynamics in software development project especially when the software companies have fewer resources in term of people, money and time is a remarkable challenge. This paper explores the dynamics of software development teams (structure, process, communication, learning and sharing) and its impact on Software Process Improvement (SPI) in very small software organization, in order to understand the impact between these two variables. We undertook a series of interviews and focus groups with very small software companies and our results show that very small companies have a high level of team dynamics although their SPI initiatives are conducted on a small scale and in an informal and indirect manner. The results also indicated that this situation occurs due to the working and social relationship, willingness to share, having a good interpersonal skill and work closely each others