Organisations have been forced to change their philosophy due to the vast amount of information made available when running software process improvement (SPI) programmes and working in a way leading to maintaining and converting this information into knowledge in order to adapt and integrate changes quickly and thereby ensuring remaining in the competitive market. This article presents some of the most significant antecedents in defining and implementing knowledge management (KM) in SPI programmes which have been adapted for use in small software companies, as such management represents a philosophy of true organisational capital for companies involved in software improvement projects. The advisability of implementing KM in SPI programmes or projects arising from primary knowledge management targets is analysed, as is its adaptation for such projects according to identified needs, especially related to documenting and manipulating tangible and intangible products produced in an SPI programme.