Towards the identification of the influence of SPI on the successful evolution of software SMEs

Software development requires multi-stage processes in order to organise the software development effort. Each software development project should implement a development process that is appropriate to the project setting. Since business needs and technologies are subject to change, software process improvement (SPI) actions are required so as to harmonise the process with the emerging business and technology needs. SPI frameworks such as the Capability Maturity Model Integrated (CMMI) and ISO-15504 have been designed to support SPI efforts. While SPI frameworks have been shown to be beneficial for large organisations, they are not widely implemented in small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs), where evidence of the positive influence of SPI on business success is weak. This paper is proposing that a new measure, the SPI Key Performance Indicator (SPI-KPI), is developed to investigate the association between SPI and business success in SMEs, with the objective of demonstrating that SPI is positively associated with business success in SMEs

The meaning of success for software SMEs: an holistic scorecard based approach

Software processes support the work of software development and software process improvement (SPI) is concerned with improving the operation of the software process. One of the primary reasons for conducting SPI is to increase the success of a software development company [1], [2]. While evidence of the benefits of SPI exists, project/senior managers report that their motivation for conducting SPI would be strengthened by the provision of further evidence of the positive impact of SPI on business success [3]. This paper proposes a new approach that utilises the Holistic Scorecard (HSC) [4] to systematically examine business success in software development companies. Furthermore, we relate the experience of applying this new approach to software small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs). This novel approach to examining success in software development companies provides a suitable mechanism for SPI researchers and practitioners seeking to establish evidence of the business benefits of SP

An empirical examination of the extent of software process improvement in software SMEs

Although earlier studies revealed much about software process improvement (SPI) in Small- to Medium-sized Enterprises (software SMEs), no earlier research set out to determine the full extent of SPI being implemented in software SMEs. Therefore, this study was designed from the outset to elicit all instances of SPI, which we term SPI events – no matter how small or informal. We make the important new discovery that SMEs initiate a considerable amount of SPI, albeit in varying quantities in different organisations. No earlier study reported that the practice of SPI was so widespread in software SMEs, and this is perhaps related to the extensive scope of the enquiry adopted in this study. Our study also finds that the significant majority of SPI in software SMEs is minor or moderate in nature, sometimes leveraging the human capital via improvements in tacit knowledge. Software development is an intrinsically human intensive activity and it therefore follows that the maximisation of the human capital in an organisation is a source of competitive advantage. However, contemporary process maturity frameworks and quality management standards do not fully exploit the capacity of human capital and may therefore diminish rather than improve the competitive advantage of software SMEs

The influence of SPI on business success in software SMEs: an empirical study

In this paper, we present the findings of a study into the relationship between software process improvement (SPI) and business success in software development small- to medium- sized companies (software SMEs). A number of earlier related studies investigated the benefits of SPI in software SMEs, particularly in terms of improvements in product quality and adherence to budgetary and schedule constraints. However, only limited or indirect research has examined the relationship between SPI and business success. In this study, we adopt the Holistic Scorecard (HSC) (Sureshchandar and Leisten, 2005) as a business success reference framework, thus examining both the financial and the non-financial aspects of business success. In addition, we utilise ISO/IEC 12207 (ISO/IEC, 2008) as a comprehensive reference framework for the investigation of SPI activity in software SMEs. Through the use of new metrics introduced in this paper, the study findings establish that there is a positive association between SPI and business success in software SMEs, highlighting the importance of SPI in successful software SMEs. This is the first time that this relationship has been demonstrated using empirical data, and therefore, the findings represent a valuable new addition to the body of knowledge

A systematic approach to the comparison of roles in the software development processes

The vision of building a successful software product requires teams of individuals equipped with a wide range of social and technical skills. Furthermore, by combining these skills with appropriate job roles, we should be able to improve the productivity of a software organization. In order to identify and compare di erent roles in software development activities, we conduct a systematic comparison of software development models, covering traditional approaches through to agile techniques. To compare the roles in the literature with industrial software landscapes, we use data from a survey conducted on 266 software practitioners to ascertain job roles in two middle size software companies, one of which uses traditional methods and in particular ISO/IEC 12207 for managing their software development activities while other uses a tailored agile methodology. In light of our interviews, we found that based on project speci c needs, the roles used in industry vary signi cantly from the roles de ned in literature

Exploring the impact of situational context – a case study of a software development process for a microservices architecture

Over the decades, a variety of software development processes have been proposed, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. It is however widely accepted that there is no single process that is perfectly suited to all settings, thus a software process should be molded to the needs of its situational context. In previous work, we have consolidated a substantial body of related research into an initial reference framework of the situational factors affecting the software development process. Practitioners can consult this framework in order to profile their context, a step necessary for effective software process decision making. In this paper, we report on the findings from a case study involving process discovery in a small but successful and growing software development firm. In this organization, which has a focus on continuous software evolution and delivery, we also applied the situational factors reference framework, finding that context is a complex and key informant for software process decisions. Studies of this type highlight the role of situational context in software process definition and evolution, and they raise awareness not just of the importance of situational context, but also of the complexity surrounding software process contexts, a complexity which may not be fully appreciated in all software development settings

Effective social productivity measurements during software development: an empirical study

Much of contemporary scienti c discussion regarding factors that in uence software de- velopment productivity is undertaken in various domains where there is an insu cient empirical basis for exploring socio-technical factors of productivity that are speci c to a software development organization. The purpose of the study is to characterize the mul- tidimensional nature of software development productivity and its social aspects as a set of latent constructs (i.e. variables that are not directly observed) for a medium-sized software company. To this end, we designed an exploratory in-depth eld study based on the hypothesized productivity constructs, which were modeled by a set of factors identi ed from literature reviews, and later re ned by industrial focus groups. In or- der to demonstrate the applicability of our approach, we conducted con rmatory factor analysis with the data attained from a questionnaire with 216 participants. To investigate factors of in uence further, we analyzed the impact of selected team- based variables over the latent constructs of productivity. Taken together, our ndings con rm that such an approach can be used to explore the quanti able in uence of socio- technical factors that would a ect productivity of a particular software development organization. Ultimately, the resulting model provides guidance to explore the compara- tive importance of a set of rm-speci c factors that may help to improve the productivity of the organization

Maximum and mean reproductive numbers for each outbreak.

<p>Maximum reproductive numbers estimated for any farm during the course of each outbreak and mean reproductive numbers <i>R</i> (95% confidence intervals) prior to enforced interventions for the four different datasets. The mean reproductive numbers prior to intervention were calculated using <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0000349#pone.0000349.s011" target="_blank">Code S9</a> and <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0000349#pone.0000349.s012" target="_blank">Code S10</a>.</p

Technology enabled continuous software development

Given that organizations need to innovate and release software in faster parallel cycles of days or even hours, there are good reasons why new practices are being adopted in industry. In this paper, we present the case of a highly responsive process that is driven by tooling technology and which facilitates continual delivery of software at up to hourly intervals. This approach can inform academic and practitioner dialogue on current challenges and potential solutions, and on the evolution of new ‘better’ practices

Time course of the four distinct HPAI epidemics considered.

<p>Number of infected farms detected daily for the four distinct epidemics. The data is given in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0000349#pone.0000349.s002" target="_blank">Table S1</a>.</p