An Approach to Support the Strategic Alignment of Software Process Improvement Programs

Abstract

The alignment between the strategy of a software process improvement program and the organizations' business strategies has been mentioned as a critical factor of success. However, the main software process reference models do not explicitly guide the companies towards defining processes which meet their strategic goals. Based on this context, the purpose of this paper is to present a process for the strategic alignment of software process improvement programs. Preliminary results indicate benefits beyond the demands of a software process reference model itself, which include the planning and execution of a software process improvement program taking into account the organization's strategic goals in a more systematic way.