Abstract
GQM+Strategies is an approach that aligns the business goals at each level of an organization to strategies and assesses the achievement of goals. The IDEAL model is an organizational improvement model. In this paper, we present our experiences applying the IDEAL model and GQM+Strategies to conduct continuous software process improvement (SPI) and establish a measurement program in a large multi-industry state-owned company. Our goal is to provide evidence of the use of these methods and models in such complex scenarios. The motivation for this paper was the lack of “from the trenches” perspectives on SPI in this kind of contexts. The main challenges faced during the experiences reported in this paper include: rigid control structures used to manage and monitor IT investment, inadequate or incomplete use of other measurement methods, and lack of continuous improvement culture (due to many years in a monopolistic industry). Moreover, we present ways in which we combined GQM+Strategies and the IDEAL model to deploy a continuous process improvement program in a context of limited resources and serious business threats, and to convince the company employees of the need for process improvement.
Keywords
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Alagarsamy, K., Justus, S., Iyakutti, K.: Implementation specification for software process improvement supportive knowledge management tool. IET Softw. 2, 123–133 (2008)
Clarke, P., O’Connor, R.V.: The Influence of SPI on business success in software SMEs. J. Syst. Softw. 85, 2356–2367 (2012)
Pfeffer, J.: Seven practices of successful organizations. Calif. Manage. Rev. 40, 96–124 (1998)
Muda, A.L., Fook, C.Y., Noordin, N.M.: The relationship between learning culture and high performance and productivity culture with job satisfaction: a study among employees in one public organization in Sarawak, Malaysia. In: Fook, Y.C., Sidhu, K.G., Narasuman, S., Fong, L.L., Abdul Rahman, B.S. (eds.) 7th International Conference on University Learning and Teaching (InCULT 2014), Proceedings: Educate to Innovate, pp. 17–25. Springer, Singapore (2016)
Basili, V.R., Trendowicz, A., Kowalczyk, M., Heidrich, J., Seaman, C., Lindvall, M., Munch, J.: Aligning Organizations Through Measurement - The GQM+Strategies Approach. Springer, Switzerland (2014)
Kaplan, R.S., Norton, D.P.: The balanced scorecard - measures that drive performance. Harv. Bus. Rev. 70(1), 71–79 (1992)
Kaplan, R.S.: Conceptual foundations of the balanced scorecard. In: Handbooks of Management Accounting Research, Vol. 3, pp. 1253–1269 (2008)
Basili, V.R., Lindvall, M., Regardie, M., Seaman, C., Heidrich, J., Rombach, D., Trendowicz, A., Münch, J., Rombach, D., Trendowicz, A.: Linking software development and business strategy through measurement. Comput. (Long. Beach. Calif.) 43, 57–65 (2010)
Mcfeeley, B.: IDEAL: a user’s guide for software process improvement, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA (1996)
Gremba, J., Myers, C.: The IDEAL model: a practical guide for improvement. Bridg. Softw. Eng. Inst., 23(3) (1997)
Fink, A., Marr, B., Siebe, A., Kuhle, J.: The future scorecard: combining external and internal scenarios to create strategic foresight. Manag. Decis. 43, 360–381 (2005)
Basili, V., Caldiera, G., Rombach, H.D.: Experience factory. In: Encyclopedia of Software Engineering. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (2002)
Casey, V., Richardson, I.: A practical application of the IDEAL model. In: Oivo, M., Komi-Sirviö, S. (eds.) Product Focused Software Process Improvement, pp. 172–184. Springer, Heidelberg (2002)
Klendauer, R., Hoffmann, A., Leimeister, J.M., Berkovich, M., Krcmar, H.: Using the IDEAL software process improvement model for the implementation of Automotive SPICE. In: Co-operative and Human Aspects of Software Engineering, pp. 66–72. IEEE (2012)
Pino, F.J., García, F., Piattini, M.: Software process improvement in small and medium software enterprises: a systematic review. Softw. Qual. J. 16, 237–261 (2008)
Swartout, P.: Continuous Delivery and DevOps: A Quickstart guide. Packt Publishing, Birmingham (2014)
Verona, J.: Practical DevOps. Packt Publishing, Birmingham (2016)
Larman, C., Vodde, B.: Practices for Scaling Lean & Agile Development: Large, Multisite, and Offshore Product Development with Large-Scale Scrum. Addison-Wesley Professional, Reading (2010)
Acknowledgment
This work was partially supported by Research Center for Communication and Information Technologies (CITIC) at University of Costa Rica. Grant No. 834-B4-412. We would also like to thank all the consultants that participated in this research including but not limited to: Dr. Marcelo Jenkins (current minister of Science and Technology of Costa Rica), Dra. Alexandra Martínez, Dr. Carlos Castro, Mag. Mauricio Arroyo, and Mag. Marcela Chacón.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
López, G., Pacheco, A., Cocozza, F., Garbanzo, D., Aymerich, B., Marín, G. (2016). GQM+Strategies and IDEAL: A Combination of Approaches to Achieve Continuous SPI. In: Abrahamsson, P., Jedlitschka, A., Nguyen Duc, A., Felderer, M., Amasaki, S., Mikkonen, T. (eds) Product-Focused Software Process Improvement. PROFES 2016. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10027. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49094-6_20
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49094-6_20
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-49093-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-49094-6
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)