A proposed methodology for establishing software process development improvement for small software development firms

Small software development firms represent the majority of all software firms in most countries. These firms are facing the same software engineering challenges that affect large software firms.Software Process Improvement (SPI) traditional models were developed to help large and very large firms, however small software firms could not afford these models. Furthermore, they need to manage and improve their software development processes for several reasons such as dealing with the rapid technology advances, maintaining their products, satisfying the customers’ needs and sustaining their operations. This paper presents the methodology’s stages of developing a suitable software development process improvement framework by using Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI-DEV V1.2) as the basic model for improvement and Extreme Programming (XP) method as the basic software development method

Harmonizing CMMI-DEV 1.2 and XP Method to Improve The Software Development Processes in Small Software Development Firms

Most software development organizations are small firms, and they have realized the need to manage and improve their software development and management activities. Traditional Software Process Improvement (SPI) models and standards are not realistic for these firms because of high cost, limited resources and strict project deadlines. Therefore, these firms need a lightweight software development method and an appropriate SPI model to manage and improve their software development and management processes. This study aims to construct a suitable software development process improvement framework for Small Software Development Firms (SSDFs) based on eXtreme Programming (XP) method and Capability Maturity Model Integration for Development Version 1.2 (CMMI-Dev1.2) model. Four stages are involved in developing the framework: (1) aligning XP practices to the specific goals of CMMI-Dev1.2 Key Process Areas (KPAs); (2) developing the proposed software development process improvement framework based on extending XP method by adapting the Extension-Based Approach (EBA), CMMI-Dev1.2, and generic elements of the SPI framework; (3) verifying the compatibility of the proposed framework to the KPAs of CMMI-Dev1.2 by using focus group method coupled with Delphi technique; and (4) validating the modified framework by using CMMI-Dev1.2 questionnaire as a main item to validate the suitability of the modified framework for SSDFs, and conducting two case studies to validate the applicability and effectiveness of this framework for these firms. The result of aligning XP practices to the KPAs of CMMI-Dev1.2 shows that twelve KPAs are largely supported by XP practices, eight KPAs are partially supported by XP practices, and two KPAs are not-supported by XP practices. The main contributions of this study are: software development process improvement framework for SSDFs, elicit better understanding of how to construct the framework, and quality improvement of the software development processes. There are possible avenues for extending this research to fulfil the missing specific practices of several KPAs, examining other agile practices and using CMMI-Dev1.3 to improve the framework, and conducting more case studie

Uso de opciones reales para evaluar la contribución de metodologías KANBAN en desarrollo de software

Este artículo aborda el estudio preliminar de los factores que aportan valor al utilizar una metodología ágil Kanban aplicada al desarrollo de software, en particular en el desarrollo de software asociado a sistemas embebidos. La adopción de esta metodología se hace mayormente en base a expectativas subjetivas e historias de éxito, pero el abordaje formal de la caracterización de los factores que contribuyen al valor de la organización otras que la gestión de la capacidad del proceso y su ciclo de trabajo es aún escaso. Se modelan estos factores, se estiman los principales parámetros del modelo y se valida el resultado por medio de simulación. Finalmente se obtienen conclusiones y avizoran líneas de trabajo futuro.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativa (SADIO

Uso de opciones reales para evaluar la contribución de metodologías KANBAN en desarrollo de software

Este artículo aborda el estudio preliminar de los factores que aportan valor al utilizar una metodología ágil Kanban aplicada al desarrollo de software, en particular en el desarrollo de software asociado a sistemas embebidos. La adopción de esta metodología se hace mayormente en base a expectativas subjetivas e historias de éxito, pero el abordaje formal de la caracterización de los factores que contribuyen al valor de la organización otras que la gestión de la capacidad del proceso y su ciclo de trabajo es aún escaso. Se modelan estos factores, se estiman los principales parámetros del modelo y se valida el resultado por medio de simulación. Finalmente se obtienen conclusiones y avizoran líneas de trabajo futuro.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativa (SADIO

Uso de opciones reales para evaluar la contribución de metodologías KANBAN en desarrollo de software

Este artículo aborda el estudio preliminar de los factores que aportan valor al utilizar una metodología ágil Kanban aplicada al desarrollo de software, en particular en el desarrollo de software asociado a sistemas embebidos. La adopción de esta metodología se hace mayormente en base a expectativas subjetivas e historias de éxito, pero el abordaje formal de la caracterización de los factores que contribuyen al valor de la organización otras que la gestión de la capacidad del proceso y su ciclo de trabajo es aún escaso. Se modelan estos factores, se estiman los principales parámetros del modelo y se valida el resultado por medio de simulación. Finalmente se obtienen conclusiones y avizoran líneas de trabajo futuro.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativa (SADIO

Análisis de experiencias de mejora de procesos de desarrollo de software en PYMEs. // Analysis of experiences of improvement of software development processes in SMEs.

Los servicios de las empresas de desarrollo de software se basan en producir productos de software de alta calidad. La calidad de los productos de software se asegura mediante la aplicación de prácticas de ingeniería de software a lo largo de todo el proceso de desarrollo. Para mejorar estos procesos, es necesario adaptar los modelos de proceso de mejora de software a las empresas de acuerdo con sus propias características. Este artículo ofrece un análisis de la aplicación de diversos modelos de mejora de procesos de software en pequeñas y medianas empresas. Finalmente, los resultados aquí presentados evidencian la influencia de los factores inherentes de las empresas y de sus equipos de trabajo en la elección de un modelo de proceso de mejora de software específico. AbstractThe services of the software development companies are based on producing high quality software products. Software products quality is ensured by applying software engineering practices throughout the development process. In order to improve these processes, it is necessary adapting the software improvement process models into companies according to their own characteristics. This paper offers an analysis of the application of various software process improvement models in small and medium size enterprises. Finally, results presented here show the influence of the inherent factors of companies and their work teams into choosing a specific software improvement process model

Developing a survey to collect expertise in agile product line requirements engineering processes

Current agile methods are focused on practices of small, rapid developing and iteration, more people oriented, less documentation projects, and the use of the methods in large, product line projects are somehow difficult. UTD and GESSI have started a project to develop an expert system that can assist a requirements enginer in selecting a requirements engineering process that is well suited for their project, in particular with respect to the use of agile and product line engineering methods. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first expert system to do this. In this report, we present the questionnaire and the rationale behind it. This report is complemented with LSI-07-14-R.Postprint (published version

Auditing for ISO 9001 requirements in the context of agile software processes

ISO 9001 demands of (software) organizations that a rigorous demonstration of their software processes be implemented and a set of guidelines followed at various levels of abstraction. What these organizations need to show, in other words, is that their software processes have been designed and implemented in a way that allows for a level of configuration and operation that complies with ISO 9001 requirements. For software organizations needing ISO 9001 certification, it is important that they establish a software process life cycle that can manage the requirements imposed by this certification standard. However, software organizations that develop their software products using the agile software processes, such as Extreme Programming (agile-XP), face a number of challenges in their effort to demonstrate that their process activities conform to ISO 9001 requirements, major ones being: product construction, traceability, and measurement. Agile software organizations must provide evidence of ISO 9001 conformity, and they need to develop their own procedures, tools, and methodologies to do so. As yet, there is no consensus on how to audit the agile software organization to ensure that their software processes have been designed and implemented in conformity with ISO 9001 requirements. Moreover, it is challenging to ensure that such lightweight documentation methodologies meet these requirements for certification purposes. The motivation of this research is to help software organizations that use agile software processes in their effort to meet the ISO 9001 certification requirements. This research project is also aimed at helping IS auditors extract auditing evidence that demonstrates conformity to the ISO 9001 requirements that must be met by agile software organizations. Extreme programming (agile-XP) has been selected for improvement as a candidate agile process. This selection was based on the literature indicating a higher adoption of agile-XP over other agile software processes. The goal of this research project is to improve the ability of the agile-XP process to meet the auditing requirements of ISO 9001. The goal of the research also focuses on helping agile software organizations in their effort to become ISO 9001 certified. The main objective of this research project is to design an auditing model that covers the measurement and traceability requirements of ISO 9001. The auditing model should provide IS auditors with auditing evidence that the software projects developed with the agile-XP process have fulfilled the requirements of ISO 9001. The objective also proposes several sub processes to enhance the early planning activities of agile-XP according to ISO 9001 requirements. To achieve these objectives, the main phases of the research methodology are: Investigation of the capability of agile-XP to achieve the requirements of ISO 9001 software process certification; modification of the early phases of agile-XP (i.e. release planning phase) using CMMI-DEV; and design of an auditing model for ISO 9001 traceability and measurement requirements. The main outcome of this research study, which is an auditing model that is aligned with the principles of agile-XP and focuses on ISO 9001 traceability and measurement requirements to provide the IS auditors with a methodological approach for the auditing process. The auditing model has been assessed based on case studies selected from the literature

AgileFM: modelo de desarrollo ágil formal basado en la ISO/IEC 29110 para las micro, pequeñas y medianas empresas

Actualmente, la gestión de proyectos de desarrollo de software en las micro, pequeñas y medianas empresas está atravesando un proceso de cambio gracias a la introducción de nuevos enfoques y modelos ágiles que se integran a los procesos existentes, permitiendo mejorar los tiempos, calidad, productividad y costos asociados -- Sin embargo, la falta de comprensión y de una solución que soporte la integración adecuada con los procesos existentes de una organización, trae consigo una serie de obstáculos que entorpecen su exitosa implementación -- Con el objetivo de ayudar a soportar el trabajo en la implementación de la norma ISO/IEC 29110 desde un enfoque aplicable a las micro, pequeñas y medianas empresas, se llevó a cabo la definición de un modelo de desarrollo ágil basado tanto en las prácticas definidas en la norma así como también en los principios del manifiesto ágil, en propuestas ágiles como eXtreme Programming, SCRUM y algunas técnicas empleadas actualmente en el desarrollo de software, por ejemplo: captura de requisitos, definición y documentación de arquitecturas de software, automatización de pruebas, entre otros -- Esta tesis también muestra un estado del arte de los trabajos relacionados, el cual fue llevado a cabo a través de una revisión sistemática de la literatura, y que tuvo por objetivo conocer lo que se había realizado y logrado en micro, pequeñas y medianas empresas respecto a las metodologías ágiles principalmente y otros modelos desde el punto de vista de: tendencias, propuestas, experiencias, factores de éxito, entre otros -- El modelo propuesto ha sido aplicado y validado a través de un estudio de caso realizado en la compañía HMV Ingenieros Ltd