Understanding the gap between software process practices and actual practice in very small companies

Abstract

This paper reports on a grounded theory to study into software developers' use of software development process in actual practice in the specific context of very small companies. This study was conducted in three very small software product companies located in Ecuador. The data collection was based on semi-structured qualitative interviews with software project managers, focus group with software developers and was supplemented by literature and documents studies. We interviewed two types of participants (managers and developers), so as to ensure that we elicited a holistic perspective of how they approached the software development process in actual practice. The goal was to study what practices are actually used and their opinion and attitude towards the potential adopting of an international standard (ISO/IEC 29110) specifically designed for very small companies. With the collected data we performed an analysis utilizing Grounded Theory coding techniques, as this methodology promotes the focus on uncovering the real concerns of the participants. This study highlighted three areas of concern: customer, software product and development tasks coordination and tracking. The findings in this study give an insight towards the work products as they relate to software development process practices in very small companies and the important factors that must be considered to assist project success.

Addressing evolving requirements faced by the software industry

“…In the paper “Managing Security Debt across PLC phases in a VSE context” Xabier Larrucea, Izaskun Santamaría and Borja Fernández‐Gauna present an approach towards the integration of safety and security aspects within the life cycle along with a framework for managing security, safety, and its associated security technical debt for Very Small Entities. These organizations are the focus of the ISO/IEC 29110 standard, one of the research avenues explored by researchers in the last years . In the case presented in this paper, authors extend the proposal of the standard to manage Security Debt in the context of Very Small Entities.…”

Minimum Viable User EXperience: A Framework for Supporting Product Design in Startups

“…Software startups are also influenced by divergent stakeholders such as investors, customers, partners, and competitors. [2] Also, customer-focused approach seems to be more crucial for small companies [2]: When the customer is happy with the software, it literally means more work and increased business opportunities for the small company as the happy customer wants more and is willing to recommend the software to others [10]. Because of unestablished customer base, such positive word of mouth and keeping the existing customers satisfied is essential for startups.…”

“…However, we utilized open sampling method in which new participants are recruited after interviewing the previous one to increase variation in the sample. Despite concentrating on Finnish startups, our study increases richness of related research that has been conducted, for instance, in Ireland [3] and in Ecuador [10].…”

Bridging the Gap Between SPI and SMEs in Educational Settings: A Learning Tool Supporting ISO/IEC 29110

“…It is aimed at addressing the specific needs of VSEs [20,2,21] and to tackle the issues of low standards adoption by small companies [9,[22][23][24].…”