Software process improvements are required to increase the productivity of
software companies. Generally, it is the aim to increase the quality of the
produced software and to keep budget and time. Quality models for software
process improvements were developed in context of large organisations and
multi-national companies. In this study I investigated how software process
improvements are done in a small software company. Ethnography was used as
research method. It was the aim of this study to build up an understanding of
how software process improvements are done and enabled in a small organisation.
Fieldnotes were taken and later analysed using template analysis. Ethnography as
the chosen research strategy proved to be applicable and feasible in software
engineering research. The qualitative research strategy resulted in a detailed
description of how one software company did software process improvements from a
bottom-up perspective. Despite the learning potential of "how real world
contingencies and possibilities interact and shape software process improvement
efforts", such descriptions are rare in software engineering literature.
Based on the field experiences and the analysed fieldnotes, the following
results were identified: In the studied small software organisation, software
process improvement efforts were pushed by the initiative of single employees.
The studied company did not have enough resources to implement a complete
quality model. In addition, management was heavily involved in daily work and
therefore had not enough time to initiate and lead software process improvement
efforts. For small software companies in a similar situation, the following
guidelines can be given: First, a bottom-up approach with delegating
responsibility from management to selected employees is needed. Second,
management must ensure to be available if decisions must be taken. Third,
improvements must be visible and feedback must be provided contemporary to gain
momentum in the whole improvement effort. In some cases it might be important
to create awareness of possible improvements. Here, employees should create
internal lobbies by involving and convincing other employees of the
improvement's importance. A joined effort will help to create enough pressure
for change, so that improvement efforts get started.
Keywords: Quality System, Ethnography, Software Methodology, Process Improvement
Bibtex entry: sstein2006.bib
@Mastersthesis{sstein2006,
title="Software Process Improvements in a Small Organisation: an Ethnography",
author="Stein, Sebastian",
school="Blekinge Institute of Technology",
address="Karlskrona/Ronneby, Sweden",
year="2006",
note="see https://quality.hpfsc.de/"
}
Research Proposal (2005-03-02): Download as PDF (ca. 67 KB)
Contact: Sebastian Stein <quality-AT-hpfsc.de>
(important: replace -AT- with @)
Last Modification: 2007-10-17