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

Metrics-based control in outsourced software development projects

Measurements have been recognised as vital instruments to improve control in outsourced software development projects. However, project managers are still struggling with the design and implementation of effective measurement programs. One reason for this is that although there is a large body of research literature on metrics, practical guidelines for choosing among concrete measurements are scarce. The authors address this gap between research and practice by synthesising knowledge from frameworks and guidelines presented in the software process improvement (SPI) literature. The contribution comprises a framework that provides a set of measurements (selected from the research literature) for control of software development in cooperative settings, and a set of principles and guidelines for the design of an information infrastructure that provides managers with control information. As implication for research, the authors identify the need to develop new theories of SPI through the lens of inter-organisational networks, and taking into account relevant practices from the world of open-source software development. Also lessons for managers of outsourced software development projects are discussed. The results have been validated via expert interviews and by a panel of experts

A conceptual framework for SPI evaluation

Software Process Improvement (SPI) encompasses the analysis and modification of the processes within software development, aimed at improving key areas that contribute to the organizations' goals. The task of evaluating whether the selected improvement path meets these goals is challenging. On the basis of the results of a systematic literature review on SPI measurement and evaluation practices, we developed a framework (SPI Measurement and Evaluation Framework (SPI-MEF)) that supports the planning and implementation of SPI evaluations. SPI-MEF guides the practitioner in scoping the evaluation, determining measures, and performing the assessment. SPI-MEF does not assume a specific approach to process improvement and can be integrated in existing measurement programs, refocusing the assessment on evaluating the improvement initiative's outcome. Sixteen industry and academic experts evaluated the framework's usability and capability to support practitioners, providing additional insights that were integrated in the application guidelines of the framework

Empirical Standards for Software Engineering Research

Empirical Standards are natural-language models of a scientific community's expectations for a specific kind of study (e.g. a questionnaire survey). The ACM SIGSOFT Paper and Peer Review Quality Initiative generated empirical standards for research methods commonly used in software engineering. These living documents, which should be continuously revised to reflect evolving consensus around research best practices, will improve research quality and make peer review more effective, reliable, transparent and fair.Comment: For the complete standards, supplements and other resources, see https://github.com/acmsigsoft/EmpiricalStandard

An Evaluation of Software Measurement Processes in Pakistani Software Industry

Implementing a successful measurement process is a challenging task. Most measurement studies report measurement models, experiences, and lessons learned based on pilot projects or case studies in a limited scope to overcome specific challenges. This paper identifies 14 basic measurement practices and proposes a model of 18 success factors for implementing measurement processes with respect to the identified measurement theories in our systematic literature review (SLR), i.e., A systematic literature review on software measurement programs, by Tahir et al. , 2016. In addition, a survey is conducted to evaluate the state of measurement practices and to validate the proposed model based on the feedback from 200 software professionals working in Pakistani software industry. The state of measurement practices in the industry is mostly not according to the identified measurement theories in the SLR. For instance, more than 50 measurement models reported in the literature but only 10% software organizations follow any measurement model. 75% of organizations do not follow any measurement standard. 80% software organizations do not use any measurement tool. The proposed model is validated by applying structural equation modeling on the survey data. Furthermore, among 18 success factors, it is statistically significant that Pakistani software professionals strongly believe in necessity of three factors for successful implementation of a measurement process, i.e., synchronization between measurement process and software process improvement, use of measurement standards, and use of measurement models. In addition, they also believe that a successful measurement process will improve prediction, monitoring and management of software projects, and support in achievement of individual and organization-wide objectives. Software organizations might consider this paper in planning and improving their measurement processes

The discursive constitution of software development

The successful development of software continues to be of central interest, both as an academic topic and in professional practice. Consequently, several software development approaches and methodologies have been developed and promoted over the past decades. However, despite the attention given to the subject and the methodical support available, software development and how it should be practiced continue to be controversial. This thesis examines how beliefs about software development come to be socially established as legitimate, and how they come to constitute software development practices in an organization. It is argued that the emergence of a dominant way of conceiving of and practicing software development is the outcome of power relations that permeate the discursive practices of organizational actors. The theoretical framework of this study is guided by Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic violence and organizational discourse theory. As a research method, ethnographic research techniques are utilized as part of a case study to gain deep insights into the standardization of software development practices. The research site is the IT division of a large financial services organization and is composed of ten units distributed across eight countries. The tumultuous development of a knowledge management programme intended to institutionalize a standard software development process across the organization’s units provides the case for this research. This thesis answers the call for studies providing detailed accounts of the sociopolitical process by which technically oriented practices are transferred and standardized within organizations. It is submitted that a discourse theoretical approach informed by Bourdieu’s thinking enables us to conceptualize this process in a more meaningful, and theoretically rigorous, manner. In providing this theoretical approach, the thesis seeks to contribute to current research on technology and innovation management, and to offer guidance on some issues concerning the management of the software development process

Alineación de la gestión estratégica con la medición de productos y procesos para organizaciones de Ingeniería del software

La presente tesis doctoral se centra en la gestión estratégica sobre las organizaciones de desarrollo y provisión de servicios software. Actualmente, investigadores puntualizan la importancia de la gestión estratégica para asegurar los objetivos de negocio y mejorar la competitividad de la organización. Sin embargo, existen evidencias que muestran que una gran parte del personal encargado de las TIC (Tecnologías de Información y Comunicación) no es consciente de su aportación a la estrategia de la organización, causando con esto una falta de orientación de los esfuerzos del personal de las TIC para cumplir con la estrategia. No se puede controlar lo que no se puede medir, es por ello que el diseño de un plan estratégico va siempre a la par del diseño de un programa de medición. El programa de medición permite medir los objetivos de negocio y el cumplimiento de la estrategia, permitiendo a la alta dirección tomar decisiones y acciones correctivas oportunas. A pesar de los beneficios de adoptar modelos de mejora del proceso software y de obtener un certificado para el establecimiento del proceso del ciclo de vida del software, se han identificado las siguientes carencias en las organizaciones de software para diseñar el programa de medición orientado al aseguramiento de la estrategia de negocio: • Es difícil alinear la información de medición a los objetivos de negocio para una efectiva toma de decisiones. • Existe una falta de justificación de la estandarización del desarrollo software con la estrategia de negocio. • Existe una carencia de información de calidad de las mediciones para controlar los esfuerzos SPI hacia el cumplimiento de los objetivos y los efectos de sus acciones en una organización de software. • Es difícil conseguir beneficios económicos al integrar la gestión estratégica, mejora del proceso y la medición en la práctica. Para resolver estas carencias, es necesario integrar la gestión estratégica, la mejora del proceso y la medición para gestionar eficientemente la competitividad de la organización de software. Por consiguiente, se realizó un análisis de las contribuciones de las propuestas dentro del proceso de la gestión estratégica. Los resultados del análisis permitieron definir un método formalizado, el cual tiene como propósito formular una estrategia para la organización de software, alinear los objetivos estratégicos con los objetivos de mejora y crear medidas desde las perspectivas financieras, de procesos internos, de los clientes y del aprendizaje y crecimiento del personal. Con el fin de ofrecer veracidad del método, se realizaron dos estudios en un entorno real y docente. Los resultados de ambos estudios presentaron evidencias concluyentes de las siguientes capacidades del método: • Alineamiento de la gestión estratégica, mejora de procesos software y medición para la gestión de la competitividad de las organizaciones. • Contribución con las sinergias entre todos los actores implicados en la definición de la estrategia, las acciones de mejora de proceso de software y las iniciativas de medición. • Captura y difusión de conocimiento útil a todos los niveles de la organización. • Facilidad del aprendizaje de las capacidades y competencias requeridas.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The present dissertation focuses on the strategic management over software development and service provision organizations. Currently, researchers point out the importance of strategic management to ensure business objectives and improve the competitiveness of the organization. Though, evidences show that a large proportion of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) staff is not aware of their contribution to the organization’s strategy, which will cause a lack of the ICT staff orientation efforts to achieve the strategy. You can't control what you can't measure, for this reason the design of a strategic plan always goes hand in hand with the design of a measurement program. The program allows quantify the business objectives and the strategy achievement, enabling top management to make decisions and appropriate corrective actions. Despite the benefits of adopting software process improvement models and obtaining a certification for the establishment of the process of software life cycle, the following lacks in software organizations to design the measurement program for the business strategy have been identified: • It is difficult to align the measurement information to the business objectives for effective decision making. • There is a lack of justification for the standardization of software development with business strategy. • There is a lack of quality information from the measurements to control the SPI efforts towards achieving the objectives and the effects of their actions in a software organization. • It is difficult to obtain economic benefits by integrating strategic management, process improvement and measurement in practice. To address these shortcomings, it is necessary to integrate strategic management, process improvement and measurement to efficiently manage the competitiveness of the organization. Therefore, an analysis of the approaches’ contributions within the strategic management process has been done. The analysis results permits define a formalized method, which aims to formulate a strategy of the software organization, aligns the strategic objectives with the improvement objectives and create measures among the perspectives of financial, internal processes, customers and staff learning and growth. In order to offer truthfulness of method, two studies in a real and educational environment were carrying out. The result of both studies shows conclusive evidence of the following capabilities of the method: • Alignment of strategic management, software process improvement and measurement to manage the competitiveness of organizations. • Contribution to the synergies among all actors involved in defining the strategy, actions of software process improvement and measurement initiatives. • Capture and spread of useful knowledge at all levels of the organization. • Facilitate the learning capabilities and competencies required