Process improvement in four small software companies

Process improvement in four small software companies

[Abstract]: For many small software companies, full-scale software
process improvement (SPI) initiatives are often out of
reach due to prohibitive costs and lack of SPI knowledge.
However, to compete in the global market, software
developers must improve their productivity, time to
market and customer satisfaction.
As part of an Australian National Industry Improvement
Program, Software Engineering Australia (Qld)
sponsored a process improvement program in which 26
of its member companies participated. A RAPID
assessment method, based on SPiCE (ISO 15504), was
developed and applied by researchers from the Software
Quality Institute. As well as detailing the RAPID
assessment method, this paper presents findings from the
process improvement program as experienced by four
small software companies. For each company, the initial
assessment findings are presented followed by the
outcome of the recommendations, as determined by
follow-up meetings.
The discussion which follows compares the capability of
the four companies and links the findings from this case
study to existing literature related to software process
improvement success and failure.

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