An Investigation of Critical Success Factors in Software Process Improvement Initiatives
Abstract
The organizations face a variety of difficulties in the conduction of software processes improvement initiatives. The causes of such difficulties are related to socio-cultural, technological and organizational aspects. The understanding of the critical success factors in software processes improvement initiatives is essential to support the management of improvement initiatives and implementation best practices. This work presents an investigation conducted by applying both qualitative and quantitative data analysis methods, aiming to construct a theoretical framework that helps to explain the social process of human behavior that governs software processes improvement implementation. The theoretical framework is constituted of concepts and influence relationships, grounded on a set of propositions (hypotheses), representing the vision and the perspective of software processes improvement practitioners.
Keywords:
Critical Factors, Process Improvement, Research
References
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Strauss, A., Corbin, J.M., 1998, Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory, 2nd ed., Sage Publications.
Wilson, D.N., Hall, T., Baddoo, N., 2001, "A framework for evaluation and prediction of software process improvement success", Journal of Systems and Software, v. 59, n. 2, pp. 135-142.
Baddoo, N., 2001, Motivators and de-motivators in software process improvement: an empirical study, PhD, University of Hertfordshire, UK.
Baddoo, N., Hall, T., 2002a, "Motivators of Software Process Improvement: An analysis of practitioners' views", Journal of Systems and Software, v. 62, n. 2, pp. 85-96.
Baddoo, N., Hall, T., 2002b, "Software process improvement motivators: An analysis using multidimensional scaling", Empirical Software Engineering, v. 7, n. 2, pp. 93-114.
Baddoo, N., Hall, T., 2003, "De-motivators for software process improvement: An analysis of practitioners' views", Journal of Systems and Software, v. 66, n. 1, pp. 23-33.
Bertelsen, O.W., 1997, "Toward a unified field of SE research and practice", IEEE Software, v. 14, n. 6, pp. 87-88.
Coleman, G., O'connor, R., 2007, "Using grounded theory to understand software process improvement: A study of Irish software product companies", Information and Software Technology, v. 49, n. 6, pp. 654-667.
Coleman, G., O'connor, R., 2008, "Investigating software process in practice: A grounded theory perspective", Journal of Systems and Software, v. 81, n. 5, pp. 772-784.
Crabtree, C.A., Seaman, C.B., Norcio, A.F., 2009, "Exploring language in software process elicitation: A grounded theory approach", IEEE Computer Society.
Dyba, T., 2000, "An Instrument for measuring the key factors of success in software process improvement", Empirical Software Engineering, v. 5, n. 4, pp. 357-390.
El-Emam, K., Goldenson, D., Mccurley, J., et al., 2001, "Modelling the likelihood of software process improvement: An exploratory study", Empirical Software Engineering, v. 6, n. 3, pp. 207-229.
Glaser, B.G., Strauss, A., 1967, The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for ualitative Research Chicago / Illinois, Aldine.
Hall, T., Baddoo, N., Wilson, D., 2000 -a, "Measurement in Software Process Improvement Programmes: An Empirical Study". In: Proceedings of the 10th International Workshop on New Approaches in Software Measurement, pp. 73-82.
Hall, T., Wilson, D.N., Baddoo, N., 2000 -b, "Towards Implementing Successful Software Inspections ". In: Proceedings of the International Conference on software Methods and Tools (SMT'00).
Matavire, R., Brown, I., 2008, "Investigating the use of "Grounded Theory" in information systems research", ACM, Wilderness, South Africa.
Montoni, M., Rocha, A.R., 2007, "A Methodology for Identifying Critical Success Factors that Influence Software Process Improvement Initiatives: An Application in the Brazilian Software Industry", Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS), LNCS 4764, EuroSPI - European Systems & Software Process Improvement and Innovation (Setembro), pp. 175-186.
Montoni, M.A., Rocha, A.R., 2010a, "Aplicação de Grounded Theory para Investigar Iniciativas de Implementação de Melhorias em Processos de Software". In: IX Simpósio Brasileiro de Qualidade de Software, pp. 167-182, Belém, Junho.
Montoni, M.A., Rocha, A.R., 2010b, "Applying Grounded Theory to Understand Software Process Improvement Implementation". In: 7th International Conference on the Quality of Information and Communications Technology, pp. 25-34, Porto, Portugal, 29 de setembro a 02 de outubro.
Niazi, M., Wilson, D., Zowghi, D., 2005, "A maturity model for the implementation of software process improvement: An empirical study", Journal of Systems and Software, v. 74, n. 2 SPEC ISS, pp. 155-172.
Niazi, M., Wilson, D., Zowghi, D., 2006, "Critical success factors for software process improvement implementation: An empirical study", Software Process Improvement and Practice, v. 11, n. 2, pp. 193-211.
Orlikowski, W.J., 1993, "CASE Tools as Organizational Change: Investigating Incremental and Radical Changes in Systems Development", Management Information Systems Quarterly, v. 17, n. 3.
Rainer, A., Hall, T., 2001, "An analysis of some 'core studies' of software process improvement", Software Process: Improvement and Practice, v. 6, n. 4, pp. 169-187.
Rainer, A., Hall, T., 2002, "Key success factors for implementing software process improvement: A maturity-based analysis", Journal of Systems and Software, v. 62, n. 2, pp. 71-84.
Rainer, A., Hall, T., 2003, "A quantitative and qualitative analysis of factors affecting software processes", Journal of Systems and Software, v. 66, n. 1, pp. 7-21.
Seaman, C.B., 1999, "Qualitative methods in empirical studies of software engineering", IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, v. 25, n. 4, pp. 557-572.
Sei, 2006, CMMI® for Development (CMMI-DEV), V1.2, CMU/SEI-2006-TR-008, Software Engineering Institute.
Softex, 2009, "MPS.BR – Melhoria de Processo do Software Brasileiro, Guia Geral (v. 2009)". In: http://www.softex.br/mpsbr/_guias/default.asp.
Staples, M., Niazi, M., Jeffery, R., et al., 2007, "An exploratory study of why organizations do not adopt CMMI", Journal of Systems and Software, v. 80, n. 6, pp. 883-895.
Strauss, A., Corbin, J.M., 1998, Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory, 2nd ed., Sage Publications.
Wilson, D.N., Hall, T., Baddoo, N., 2001, "A framework for evaluation and prediction of software process improvement success", Journal of Systems and Software, v. 59, n. 2, pp. 135-142.
Published
2011-06-06
How to Cite
MONTONI, Mariano Angel; ROCHA, Ana Regina Cavalcanti da.
An Investigation of Critical Success Factors in Software Process Improvement Initiatives. In: BRAZILIAN SOFTWARE QUALITY SYMPOSIUM (SBQS), 10. , 2011, Curitiba.
Anais [...].
Porto Alegre: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação,
2011
.
p. 151-165.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/sbqs.2011.15393.
