Prioritization of processes for software process improvement in small software enterprises

In this article a set of processes which are considered to be of high-priority when initiating the implementation of a Software Process Improvement -SPI- project in Very Small Software Enterprises VSEs-, is presented. The objective is to present the VSEs with a strategy to deal with the first processes that must be considered when they undertake an SPI project. The processes proposed in this article are fundamentally based on the analysis and contrast of several pieces of research carried out by the COMPETISOFT project. The fundamental principle of the proposal is that process improvement must be connected with the other software process management responsibilities.