Crafting a software process improvement approach-a retrospective systematization

Abstract

Structured approaches are beneficial for successful software process improvement (SPI). However, process engineers often struggle with standardized SPI methods, such as capability maturity model integration (CMMI) or International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 15504, and complain about too generic or voluminous approaches or methods that are alien to the organizations in which SPI is conducted. Therefore, process engineers need to customize existing SPI models or develop new approaches for companyspecific SPI programs. While conducting SPI in the context of the German V-Modell XT, we faced the need to develop a new method for artifact-based SPI. In the process, we found that the construction procedures of SPI models are barely documented, and thus, their successful adaptation solely depends on the process engineers' expertise. With this article, we aim to address this lack of support and provide a structured reflection on our experiences from creating and adopting the Artifact-based Software Process Improvement & Management (ArSPI) model. We present the steps of the construction procedure, the validation, and the dissemination of the model. Furthermore, we detail on the applied methods, the design decisions, and the challenges encountered. By providing a reference procedure and tested methods, we support process engineers with the creation and adoption of SPI approaches.

Peer Review #1 of "Guidelines for using empirical studies in software engineering education (v0.1)"

“…Requirements regarding the validity of the results differ as well as the general scope of experiments. Furthermore, as we have previously discussed, small and very small companies usually have insufficient resources to invest in the necessary preparation and allocation of resources (Kuhrmann, 2015). Nevertheless, experimentation allows for, e.g., evaluating different methods and tools, building a hypothesis, and testing the hypothesis.…”

Inductive Approaches in Software Process Assessment

“…In this course of thinking, Gray et al [23] proposed an incremental approach to process assessment and improvement based on variety of assessment techniques. Guidelines for designing software process assessment and improvement approaches are presented in [63,33]. Zarour et al [62] presented a systematic literature review on designing and implementing lightweight assessment methods based on top-down best practice, and concluded that success of assessment contributes to success of SPI as a whole.…”

From pragmatic to systematic software process improvement: an evaluated approach

“…As described in [14], ArSPI defines five key artefacts (Table 1), which have to be created in every SPI project. 24 support artefacts, created in response to particular project requirements, for example, assessment and quality assurance artefacts, accompany these key artefacts.…”