SPI with lightweight software process Modeling in a small software company

In small growing software companies, it is important to pay attention to software process improvement (SPI) in order to be successful and competitive in both domestic and foreign markets. However, limited resources and lack of knowledge about process culture may hinder the improvement efforts in small companies. In this paper, we present development activities done in a small growing software company in order to establish basis for SPI. Familiarizing to processes and SPI is done by modeling company's processes using a lightweight software process modeling technique. The modeling combined with external consulting provides the company with capability to visualize their processes and to identify the problems in the processes. The improvement activities have been triggered by pointing out the problems. In the presented case, the company has independently implemented quite significant improvements for identified problems by acquiring needed knowledge and by implementing new tools to support workflows.