Towards Configurable ISO 29110-compliant Software Development Processes for Very Small Entities

International audienceUsing ISO/IEC 29110, very small entities (VSEs) can perform a step-wise increment of their software process by switching between the different ISO/ IEC profiles. However, ISO/IEC 29110 provides no guidance on how to switch between profiles incrementally, other than resorting to costly software development process experts unaffordable for VSEs. To address this shortcoming, this paper shows how to model the variability of currently available ISO/IEC 29110 profiles in an integrated and configurable workflow with illustration on the Requirements Engineering (RE) activity. This workflow is linked to a questionnaire used to support automated process configuration. Thereby, the user can easily derive the ISO/IEC-compliant processes to switch between profiles incrementally. The feasibility of this approach is shown using open-source workflow management tools Synergia and YAWL

The Evolution of the ISO/IEC 29110 Set of Standards and Guides

While the quality of products is a competitive advantage for very small software development organizations, the usage of Software and Systems Engineering standards amongst such very small organizations is extremely low. A key factor in the literature explaining this lack of quality standards adoption is the perception by small and very small organizations that such standards have been developed for large multi-national companies and not with small and very small organizations in mind. The ISO/IEC 29110 standard is unique amongst software and systems engineering standards, in that the working group (ISO/IEC JTC1/SC7 WG 24) mandated to develop a new standard approached industry to conduct a needs assessment and gather actual requirements for a new standard as part of the standards development process. This paper presents a historical perspective behind the development of the ISO/IEC 29110 systems and software engineering standard and its constituent components, including the rationale behind its development and the innovative design of implementation guides to assist very small companies in adopting the standards. Further this paper will present an overview of the various parts of the ISO/IEC 29110 family and briefly present the plans for the future evolution of this series of standards