From Pragmatic to Systematic Software Process Improvement: An Evaluated Approach

TL;DR

This paper introduces ArSPI, an artefact-based approach for systematic software process improvement that addresses the needs of both process engineers and project managers, validated across multiple large organizations.

Contribution

It presents a comprehensive artefact-based framework for SPI that integrates stakeholder needs and has been empirically validated in real-world projects.

Findings

ArSPI effectively supports SPI project setup and management.

The approach was validated in large organizations in Germany and Eastern Europe.

ArSPI's artefact set improves process improvement outcomes.

Abstract

Software processes improvement (SPI) is a challenging task, as many different stakeholders, project settings, and contexts and goals need to be considered. SPI projects are often operated in a complex and volatile environment and, thus, require a sound management that is resource-intensive requiring many stakeholders to contribute to the process assessment, analysis, design, realisation, and deployment. Although there exist many valuable SPI approaches, none address the needs of both process engineers and project managers. This article presents an Artefact-based Software Process Improvement & Management approach (ArSPI) that closes this gap. ArSPI was developed and tested across several SPI projects in large organisations in Germany and Eastern Europe. The approach further encompasses a template for initiating, performing, and managing SPI projects by defining a set of 5 key artefacts and 24 support artefacts. We present ArSPI and discus results of its validation indicating ArSPI to be a helpful instrument to set up and steer SPI projects.