Organizational Influence Process in Software Process Improvement

In this paper we investigate organizational influence processes in software process improvement. We analyze an improvement effort through the lenses of organizational influence theory. Our analysis suggests that the framework can explain several significant organizational complexities in software process improvement. Further, the framework point to relevant actions for managers of software process improvement. This will have implications for the creation of effective software process improvement

Building and Maintaining Alliances in SPI Projects: Implications for Organizing Effective SPI

Software Process Improvement projects face a double challenge: On the one hand are these projects often major organizational change projects requiring considerable investments in terms of time and money. The group charged with conducting an SPI project has, on the other hand, little formal authority to influence or force software professionals to engage in SPI work and define and implement changes. In this research in progress paper, we present first results from our analysis of how an SPI group can use alliances to obtain influence and induce change. Our analysis shows that the concept of alliances is useful both to understand organizational influence and to provide practical advice for practitioners involved in organizational processes such as SPI

An approach to reconcile the agile and CMMI contexts in product line development

Software product line approaches produce reusable platforms and architectures for products set developed by specific companies. These approaches are strategic in nature requiring coordination, discipline, commonality and communication. The Capability Maturity Model (CMM) contains important guidelines for process improvement, and specifies "what" we must have into account to achieve the disciplined processes (among others things). On the other hand, the agile context is playing an increasingly important role in current software engineering practices, specifying "how" the software practices must be addressed to obtain agile processes. In this paper, we carry out a preliminary analysis for reconciling agility and maturity models in software product line domain, taking advantage of both.Postprint (published version

Managerial commitment towards SPI in small and very small enterprises

This paper compares and contrasts the results of two similar studies into the software process practices in Irish Small and Very Small Enterprises. The first study contains rich findings in relation to the role and influence of managerial experience and style, with particular respect to the company founder and software development managers in small to medium seized enterprises (SMEs), whilst the second study contains extensive findings in relation to people and management involvement / commitment and SPI goal planning in very small enterprises (VSEs). By combining these results of these two studies of Irish SMEs/VSEs we can develop a rich picture of managerial commitment towards SPI and in particular explore the similarities between Small and Very Small Enterprises

System implementation: managing project and post project stage - case study in an Indonesian company

The research reported in this paper aims to get a better\ud understanding of how the implementation process of\ud enterprise systems (ES) can be managed, by studying the\ud process from an organisational perspective. A review of\ud the literature on previous research in ES implementation\ud has been carried out and the state of the art of ES\ud implementation research is defined. Using several body of\ud literature, an organisational view on ES implementation is\ud described, explaining that ES implementation involves\ud challenges from triple domain, namely technological\ud challenge, business process related challenge, and\ud organisational challenge. Based on the defined state of the\ud art and the organisational view on ES implementation\ud developed in this research, a research framework is\ud presented, addressing the project as well as the postproject\ud stage, and a number of essential issues within the\ud stages. System alignment, knowledge acquisition, change\ud mobilisation are the essntial issues to be studied in the\ud project stage while institutionalisation effort and\ud continuous improvement facilitation are to be studied in\ud the post-project stage. Case studies in Indonesian\ud companies are used to explain the framework

Planning effort as an effective risk management tool

In project management, high levels of risk are considered to be a significant obstacle for project success. This paper investigates whether improving the project plan can lead to improved success for high-risk projects. A quality of planning index was designed to explore how the presence of high risk affects the quality of planning and project success. The index includes managerial aspects such as costs, human resources, procurement and quality, as well as organizational support aspects based on organization maturity models. In a field study based on data collected from 202 project managers regarding their most recent projects, it was found that the levels of risk at the beginning of projects has no effect on their final success. Drilling down to find an explanation for this surprising phenomenon, we found that in the presence of high risk, project managers significantly improve their project plans. Hence, in high-risk projects, better project plans improve all four dimensions of project success: schedule overrun, cost overrun, technical performance and customer satisfaction. However, in low-risk projects, better project plans did not contribute to reducing schedule or cost overruns. In other words, while endless risk management tools are developed, we found that improving the project plan is a more effective managerial tool in dealing with high-risk projects. Finally, the paper presents the most common planning tools currently being used in high-risk projects