Process Deployment: A Taxonomy of Critical Success Factors

Various methods, models and standards for software process improvement have been adopted by organizations to improve their software processes. However, despite these efforts they still encounter difficulties in their process deployment throughout the organization. This is because the vast majority of these efforts focus more on the technical aspects, bypassing the human aspects. There is a set of factors that influence the successful deployment of new or modified processes. This paper presents a taxonomy of critical success factors in software process deployment to achieve the processes institutionalization. The development of a taxonomy related to these critical success factors is based on a systematic review of existing literature on specialized databases and industrial experiences that have deployed or implemented processes

Implementing software process improvement initiatives: An empirical study

In this paper we present findings from our empirical study of software process improvement (SPI) implementation. We aim to provide SPI practitioners with insight into designing appropriate SPI implementation initiatives in order to achieve better results. Thirty-four interviews were conducted with Australian practitioners. Three SPI implementation issues were investigated: reasons for embarking on SPI initiatives, SPI benefits to the management, and factors that play a positive role in SPI implementation. We have found that most common reasons for embarking on SPI initiatives are to: improve the quality of software developed, reduce software development cost, and increase productivity. Our results show that 71% of the practitioners said that SPI initiatives provided clear benefits to the management. We have also found that most frequently cited SPI implementation factors are: SPI awareness, defined SPI implementation methodology, experienced staff, staff time and resources, senior management commitment and training. Our aim of conducting this study is to provide a SPI implementation framework for the design of effective SPI implementation initiatives. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006

Taxonomía de Factores Críticos para el Despliegue de Procesos Software.

Diversos métodos, modelos y estándares para la mejora de procesos software han sido desarrollados y adoptados por las organizaciones para mejorar sus procesos software. Sin embargo, a pesar de los esfuerzos realizados, presentan aun dificultades en el despliegue de sus procesos a través de la organización. Esto es debido a que en su gran mayoría, los esfuerzos realizados están más orientados hacia los aspectos técnicos, soslayando los aspectos relacionados con las personas. Existe un conjunto de factores que condicionan el éxito del despliegue de los procesos nuevos o que han sido modificados. En este artículo, se presenta una taxonomía de factores críticos que condicionan el éxito del proceso de despliegue, que se traduce en lograr la institucionalización de los procesos. La elaboración de la taxonomía de factores críticos de éxito se sustenta en una revisión sistemática de la bibliografía existente en las bases de datos especializadas y en experiencias en organizaciones que han desplegado procesos basados en el modelo CMMI

Повышение гибкости управления предприятием за счет современных средств математического моделирования и визуализации данных

This article considers the use options of different methods of data presentation for the purpose of management flexibility increase of industrial enterprise in modern conditions of global instability. Implementation of visualization and data representation approaches is analyzed for mathematical model support of the choice of administrative alternatives: factors dynamics forecast, control of change range of factors values, model sensitivity analysis, optimum analysis of alternatives for different temporary horizons. Advantages of use of the considered methods of the advanced visualization to decision-making quality increase are proved.Рассматриваются варианты использования различных методов представления данных для цели повышения гибкости управления промышленным предприятием в современных условиях глобальной нестабильности. Анализируется применение методов визуализации для поддержки математической модели выбора управленческих альтернатив: прогноз динамики факторов, контроль диапазона изменения значений факторов, анализ чувствительности модели к изменению факторов, оценка оптимальности альтернатив на разных временных горизонтах. Обосновываются преимущества использования рассмотренных методов продвинутой визуализации для повышения качества принятия решений

Organizational Change Perspectives on Software Process Improvement

Many software organizations have engaged in Software Process Improvement (SPI) and experienced the challenges related to managing such complex organizational change efforts. As a result, there is an increasing body of research investigating change management in SPI. To provide an overview of what we know and don’t know about SPI as organizational change, this paper addresses the following question: What are the dominant perspectives on SPI as organizational change in the literature and how is this knowledge presented and published? All journals on the AIS ranking list were screened to identify relevant articles and Gareth Morgan’s organizational metaphors (1996) were used to analyze this literature considering the following dimensions of each article: organizational perspective (metaphor), knowledge orientation (normative versus descriptive), theoretical emphasis (high versus low), main audience (practitioner versus academic), geographical origin (Scandinavia, the Americas, Europe, or the Asia-Pacific), and publication level (high versus low ranked journal). The review demonstrates that the literature on SPI as organizational change is firmly grounded in both theory and practice, and Scandinavia and the Americas are the main contributors to this research. The distribution of articles across Morgan’s metaphors is uneven and reveals knowledge gaps that present new avenues for research. The current literature offers important insights into organizational change in SPI from machine, organism, and brain perspectives. Practitioners may use these articles as a guide to SPI insights relevant to their improvement initiatives. In contrast, the impact of culture, dominance, psychic prison, flux and transformation, and politics in SPI have only received scant attention. We argue that these perspectives offer important insights into the challenges involved in managing change in SPI. Researchers are therefore advised to engage in new SPI research based on one or more of these perspectives. Overall, the paper provides a roadmap to help identify insights and specific articles related to SPI as organizational change.Software Process Improvement; Organizational Change; Organizational Metaphors; Images of Organization; Literature Review

The adoption of software process improvement (SPI) program in the construction industry

Integrating the design process and automating the construction process are called for in the Industrialised Building System (IBS) Roadmap 2003-2010 and the Construction Industry Master Plan (CIMP) 2006-2015. Hence, the industry needs to improve the construction delivery process by having as many processes utilizing advanced IT/ICT technologies. With a goal of producing zero product failure and meeting the users’ requirement satisfaction, this is an initial study into automating the construction tasks by studying a systematic process management commonly used for software implementation. We present a feasibility study on the use of a Software Process Improvement (SPI) Program in an IT organization—assuming that the construction organization will become an implementer of computer-integrated procedures in the future. Based on a case study conducted at a local IT software company, it documents the implementation of a SPI program to improve the internal software process development. The study uses the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) from Software Engineering Institute as SPI framework and IDEAL model-SPI life cycle model for executing and managing SPI program. Results show that the SPI Program model is successful in terms of the IT organization increasing its work productivity, high end-user product satisfaction and reduction of software defects. The paper concludes with discussions on how we can bridge computer science approach into the construction industry, thereby contributing to the development of future theoretical and application methodologies towards applying IT/ICT initiatives in the local construction industry

Software process assessment and improvement using Multicriteria Decision Aiding - Constructivist

Software process improvement and software process assessment have received special attention since the 1980s. Some models have been created, but these models rest on a normative approach, where the decision-maker's participation in a software organization is limited to understanding which process is more relevant to each organization. The proposal of this work is to present the MCDA-C as a constructivist methodology for software process improvement and assessment. The methodology makes it possible to visualize the criteria that must be taken into account according to the decision-makers' values in the process improvement actions, making it possible to rank actions in the light of specific organizational needs. This process helped the manager of the company studied to focus on and prioritize process improvement actions. This paper offers an empirical understanding of the application of performance evaluation to software process improvement and identifies complementary tools to the normative models presented today

A framework for assisting the design of effective software process improvement implementation strategies

A number of advances have been made in the development of software process improvement (SPI) standards and models, e.g. Capability Maturity Model (CMM), more recently CMMI, and ISO's SPICE. However, these advances have not been matched by equal advances in the adoption of these standards and models in software development which hasresulted in limited success for many SPI efforts. The current problem with SPI is not a lack of standards or models, but rather a lack of an effective strategy to successfully implement these standards or models. In this paper we have focused on SPI implementation issues and designed three individual components in order to assist SPI practitioners in the design of effective SPI implementation initiatives. We have pulled together individual components under one SPI implementation framework (SPI-IF) using a bottom-up approach already familiar to many practitioners and researchers. The framework is based on the results drawn from SPI literature and an empirical study we have carried out. In the design of SPI-IF, the concept of critical success factors (CSFs) was used and extended. Thirty-four CSF interviews were conducted with Australian practitioners. In addition, 50 research articles (published experience reports and case studies) were also selected and analysed in order to identify factors that play positive or negative roles in SPI implementation. The SPI-IF provides a very practical structure with which to assess and implement SPI implementation initiatives. In order to evaluate SPI-IF, a practical evaluation scheme was undertaken. The evaluation results show that SPI-IF has potential to assist SPI practitioners in the design of effective SPI implementation initiatives. Thus, we recommend organizations to use SPI-IF in order to effectively design SPI implementation initiatives. © 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved