1. Software Process Improvement in Small Organizations
Ardalan Yousefi

2. Outline Overview Benefits of SPI Why not use well-known SPI models?
Competisoft
ISO for VSEs
VSE: Very small enterprises having up to 25 employees

3. Overview 85% of all software organizations are small companies
Less than 50 employees
Not just a scaled-down version of large firms
Different business goals
Extremely responsive and flexible
Flat structure
Encourage entrepreneurship and innovation
Focus on a specific market niche
Why are small software companies different? P1,2
In many countries including the US, Brazil, Canada, India, Ireland, etc.
Because of different characteristics, scaled-down versions of SPIs cannot be applied to small organizations.

4. Benefits of SPI
Is software process improvement really necessary in small software companies?
Greater software product quality
Decreased development risk
Increased competitiveness
Facilitation of marketing
Higher potential to export
In 2006, A working group in ISO/IEC (International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission) conducted a survey to collect relevant information from 392 (VSEs) very small enterprises . VSE p6
Marketing facilitation: better image

5. Prominent SPI Models
Well-known SPI standards not applicable to small companies
Difficult and bureaucratic
Inadequate guidance and support
Too costly for small enterprises
More guidance with examples
Lightweight and easy-to-understand standards complete with templates
Costly -> in terms of cost, time, and resources (not enough staff to perform and monitor a complete SPI approach)
CMMI for small settings: leaves the decision of what parts of CMMI to follow to the organizations - Just a couple of general suggestions
CMMI for Small Settings
No concrete instructions

6. Competisoft
A software process improvement and certification framework developed by researchers and companies from 11 Latin American countries plus Spain and Portugal

7. Process Reference Model
Specifically designed for small companies
Contains guidelines and examples
Categories
Processes
Top Management
Business Management
Middle Management
Process Management
Project Management
Resource Management
Operation
Specific Project Administration
Software Development
Software Maintenance
Compare with 22 process areas of CMMI
Process Reference Model guidelines and examples:
process self-assessment questionnaire
Examples of deployment guidelines for requirements, analysis and design, construciton, etc.
Techniques
Specific work products
Support tool suggestions
An application example
Recommended bibliography
High direction category with only one process: business management
Strategic planning of the organization, such as definition of organizational mission, mission, vision, and values.
Intercompany connectivity
Resource Management
Record and store experiences from all projects from all organizational levels
Formal yet lightweight documentation
Configuration Management

8. Evaluation Model
A set of measures for estimating the capability and performance of software processes
Capability measures
Performance measures
Based on purpose, description, work products, and activities from the Competisoft Reference Model
Level
Process Capability
Level 5
Optimizing
Level 4
Predictable
Level 3
Established
Level 2
Managed
Level 1
Performed
Level 0
Incomplete
Capability measures similar to capability levels in CMMI, evaluated based on generic practices (like generic goals in CMMI)
Performance measures: help estimate the performance of software processes

9. Improvement Model
A lightweight process for economically running improvement programs in small organizations
Iterative and incremental
Composed of one or more improvement cycles
Initiating the cycle
Diagnosing the process
Formulating improvements
Executing improvements
Revising the cycle
Influenced by IDEAL
Influenced by XP and Scrum
A guide for implementing an improvement cycle
IDEAL: a model developed by Software Engineering Institute which can be used to guide development of a long-range, integrated plan for initiating and managing an SPI program.

10. ISO 29110
Published in 2010 by ISO
A subset of ISO/IEC and MoProSoft applicable to VSEs
Tailored to fit VSE needs
In May 2005, International Organization for Standardization established a new working group called WG24 to work on developing a software process improvement profile for small organizations.
ISO/IEC is an international standard for software lifecycle processes. It aims to be the standard that defines all the tasks required for developing and maintaining software.
Morprosoft: one of the standards CompetiSoft is based on.

11. ISO 29110 Guides Assessment Guide Management and Engineering Guide
ISO/IEC
Management and Engineering Guide
ISO/IEC
Single application, single project team
Provides guidance on Project Management and Software Implementation Processes
Assessment guide: a process for performing an assessment of a VSE’s software process to determine process capabilities and the organizational process maturity.

12. Software Implementation Process
General practices and activities

13. Deployment Packages Deployment Packages
A set of artifacts facilitating the implementation of a set of practices, of the selected framework, in a VSE.
Deployment Package: help implement the project management & software implementation processes

14. Deployment Package Contents
Technical Description Purpose of this document Why this Topic is important?
Definitions
Relationships with ISO/IEC 29110
Overview of Processes, Activities, Tasks, Roles and Products
Description of Processes, Activities, Tasks, Steps, Roles and Products  Role Description Product Description Artifact Description
Template
Example
Checklist
Tool
References to Other Standards and Models
References
Evaluation Form
3. Which activity of a process in the management and engineering guide is covered
each activity has a set of roles, each of which is done by a number of roles
example: Process: Software Implementation (SI) - Activity: SI.3 Software Architectural and Detailed Design
4. Products: input & output products (like documents in ICSM)
5. Artifact: optional documents that can facilitate the documentation of a project
10. e.g. ISO 9001, ISO/IEC 12207, CMMI

15. Summary
SPI standards such as CMMI or ISO/IEC not suitable for small organizations
Several research groups are developing SPI models specifically designed for small companies
Most of these models are very new
Evidence of success?
ISO/IEC & CMMI have been around since the early 90s. Plenty of empirical data.

16. References
I. Richardson and C. Gresse von Wangenheim, “Why are small software organizations different?,” Software, IEEE, vol. 24, no. 1, pp , 2007.
C. Y. Laporte, S. Alexandre and R. V. O'Connor, "A Software Engineering Lifecycle Standard for Very Small Enterprises," Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol. 16, pp , 2008.
H. Oktaba, F. Garcia, M. Piattini, F. Ruiz, F. J. Pino and C. Alquicira, "Software Process Improvement: The Competisoft Project," Computer, vol. 40, no. 10, pp , October 2007.

17. References (contd.)
B. McFeeley, "IDEAL: A Users Guide for Software Process Improvement" February [Online]. Available:
S. Garcia, “Thoughts on Applying CMMI in Small Settings" [Online]. Available:
S. Garcia, S. Cepeda, M. J. Staley and G. Miluk “Lessons Learned from Adopting CMMI for Small Organizations" [Online]. Available:

18. References (contd.)
ISO/IEC
“Deployment Packages for the Generic Profile Group for VSEs Developing Systems and/or Software”. [Online]. Available:

19. Thank You!