A Case Study of Software Process Improvement Implementation

Managing a successful Software Process Improvement (SPI) is a challenging issue that many software companies face today. Many companies have invested huge amount of money in improving their software processes. This can be confirmed through several papers that present the results of SPI programs. However, as pointed out by the literature, many of these programs have encountered difficulties to achieve the desired benefits. This is usually not caused by incorrect new processes, but due to inadequate SPI implementation and, particularly inadequate SPI adoption. This paper evaluates an SPI program, discussing its implementation problems with emphasis on adoption issues. The analysis was carried out as a case study in a software development organization. Our findings suggest that other than finance, technology and other issues, several implementation aspects, in particular effective adoption strategy, are needed to achieve a successful SPI program. Our main contribution is to give evidences that an SPI implementation process can be assessed and improved using objective measurements and available methods and practices. In particular, we measure the adoption of an SPI practice, analyzing the evolution of the improved practices rework during the development of two software projects.