Skip to main content

Modeling SPI Sustainment in Software-Developing Organizations: A Research Framework

  • Conference paper
Software Process Improvement and Capability Determination (SPICE 2014)

Abstract

While software process improvement is well established as a practice, it still presents challenges for some adopters. Drop-outs from SPI programs are not uncommon. The paper argues that SPI sustainment is a function of the organizational context of the program, not just of the program (or SPI ‘product’) itself. Critical in this context is the organization’s operational capabilities and capacity for change, as well as key external factors that, together, can influence SPI outcomes. SPI sustainment is not an established topic of research. To foster interest and progress is responding to the problem, the paper makes a theoretical contribution by developing and proposing a research model of SPI sustainment, called SUSTAIN, from published research on process improvement. Four testable propositions are developed from the model. Implications of the model and plans for future work are also discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Allison, I.: Organizational Factors Shaping Software Process Improvement in Small-Medium Sized Software Teams: A Multi-Case Analysis. In: 7th Int. Conference on the Quality of Information and Communications Technology (QUATIC), pp. 418–423. IEEE (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Arent, J., Iversen, J.H., Andersen, C.V., Bang, S.: Project Assessments: Supporting Com-mitment, Participation, and Learning in Software Process Improvement. In: Proceedings of the 33rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), pp. 1–10. IEEE (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Assessment of Organizational XYZ company, a.s., http://dae-projects.cz/2012/assessment-of-organizational-maturity-of-xyz-company-a-s/

  4. Baldwin, L.P., Tillal, E., Ray, J.P.: Business Process Design: Flexible Modelling with Multiple Levels of Detail. Bus. Proc. Manage. J. 11(1), 22–36 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Bateman, N., David, A.: Process Improvement Programmes: A Model for Assessing Sus-tainability. Int. J. Oper. Prod. Man. 22(5), 515–526 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Caivano, D.: Continuous Software Process Improvement through Statistical Process Control. In: 9th European Conference on Software Maintenance and Reengineering (CSMR), pp. 288–293. IEEE (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Christiansen, M., Jørn, J.: ImprovAbilityTM Guidelines for Low Maturity Organizations. Soft. Proc. Improv. Pract. 13(4), 319–325 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Comparing Total Quality Management and the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) in an Organizational Change Perspective, http://asq.org/qic/display-item/?item=11247

  9. Durdik, Z., Klatt, B., Koziolek, H., Krogmann, K., Stammel, J., Weiss, R.: Sustainability Guidelines for Long-living Software Systems. In: 28th International Conference on Software Maintenance (ICSM), pp. 517–526. IEEE (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Dyba, T.: An Empirical Investigation of the Key Factors for Success in Software Process Improvement. IEEE T. Software Eng. 31(5), 410–424 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Ekdahl, F., Larsson, S.: Experience Report: Using Internal CMMI Appraisals to Institution-alize Software Development Performance Improvement. In: 32nd EUROMICRO Conference on Software Engineering and Advanced Applications (SEAA), pp. 216–223. IEEE (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Emam, K.E., Drouin, J.-N., Melo, W.: SPICE: The Theory and Practice of Software Process Improvement and Capability Determination. IEEE Computer Society, Los Alamitos (1998)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  13. Ferguson, P., Leman, G., Perini, P., Renner, S., Seshagiri, G.: Software Process Improve-ment Works! Carnegie Mellon, Software Engineering Institute, CMU/SEI-99-TR-027 (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Foster, R., Wright, L., McRae, P.: Leading and Sustaining School Improvement Initiatives: A Review of Site-based Research from AISI Cycles 1, 2, and 3. Alberta Education, Edmonton (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Glover, W.J., Farris, J.A., Van Aken, E.M., Doolen, T.L.: Critical Success Factors for the Sustainability of Kaizen Event Human Resource Outcomes: An Empirical Study. Int. J. Prod. Econ. 132(2), 197–213 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Halvorsen, C.P., Conradi, R.: A Taxonomy to Compare SPI Frameworks. In: Ambriola, V. (ed.) EWSPT 2001. LNCS, vol. 2077, pp. 217–235. Springer, Heidelberg (2001)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  17. Hardgrave, B.C., Armstrong, D.J.: Software Process Improvement: It’s a Journey, Not a Destination. Commun. ACM 48(11), 93–96 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Herbsleb, J., Zubrow, D., Goldenson, D., Hayes, W., Paulk, M.: Software Quality and the Capability Maturity Model. Commun. ACM 47, 30–40 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. ISO/IEC: ISO/IEC 15504-1 Information Technology – Process Assessment – Part 1: Con-cepts and Vocabulary. ISO, Geneva (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Jha, A.: Beyond CMMI, KPMG Business Excellence Report, http://www.kpmg.com/in/en/services/advisory/performance-technology/itas/spi_docs/beyond%20cmmi.pdf

  21. Krasner, H.: Accumulating the Body of Evidence for the Payoff of Software Process Improvement (1997), http://www.utexas.edu/coe/sqi/archive/krasner/spi.pdf

  22. Kuvaja, P., Similä, J., Krzanik, L., Bicego, A., Saukkonen, S., Koch, G.: Software Process Assessment & Improvement – The Bootstrap Approach. Blackwell, Oxford (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Lapham, M.A., Woody, C.: Sustaining Software-Intensive Systems. Carnegie Mellon, Software Engineering Institute, CMU/SEI-2006-TN-007 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Liesener, T.: Why Do Continuous Improvement Fail to Sustain, http://www.kaizen-factory.com/2013/05/19/why-do-continuous-improvement-initiatives-fail-to-sustain/

  25. Lepmets, M., Ras, E., Renault, A.: Organizational Support for Process Improvement – Results of an International Survey. In: O’Connor, R.V., Rout, T., McCaffery, F., Dorling, A. (eds.) SPICE 2011. CCIS, vol. 155, pp. 133–144. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  26. Mathiassen, L., Pries-Heje, J., Ngwenyama, O. (eds.): Improving Software Organizations: From Principles to Practice. Addison-Wesley, Reading (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Näslund, D.: Lean, Six Sigma and Lean Sigma: Fads or Real Process Improvement Methods? Bus. Proc. Manage. J. 14(3), 269–287 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Naumann, S., Dick, M., Kern, E., Johann, T.: The Greensoft Model: A Reference Model for Green and Sustainable Software and its Engineering. Sust. Comp.: Informatics and Systems 1(4), 294–304 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Penzenstadler, B., Bauer, V., Calero, C., Franch, X.: Sustainability in Software Engineering: A Systematic Literature Review. In: Evaluation & Assessment in Software Engineering (EASE), pp. 32–41 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Persse, J.R.: Process Improvement Essentials: CMMI, Six Sigma, and ISO 9001. O’Reilly, Sebastopol (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  31. Phalpher, R.: Sustaining Organisational Change, http://peo.on.ca/index.php/ci_id/20846/la_id/1.htm

  32. Pillet, M., Maire, J.L.: How to Sustain Improvement at High Level: Application in the Field of Statistical Process Control. TQM J. 20(6), 570–587 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Pries-Heje, J., Johansen, J.: SPI Manifesto (2010), http://www.iscn.com/Images/SPI_Manifesto_A.1.2.2010.pdf

  34. Pries-Heje, J., Johansen, J.: Change Strategy for ISO/IEC 33014: A Multi-case Study on Which Change Strategies Were Chosen. In: Barafort, B., O’Connor, R.V., Poth, A., Messnarz, R. (eds.) EuroSPI 2014. CCIS, vol. 425, pp. 317–330. Springer, Heidelberg (2014)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  35. Quesada-Pineda, H.J., Madrigal, J.: Sustaining Continuous Improvement: A Longitudinal and Regional Study. Int. J. Eng. Bus. Manag. 5(43), 1–153 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  36. Ray, S.: Green Software Engineering Process: Moving Towards Sustainable Software Product Design. J. Global Res. Comp. Sc. 4(1), 25–29 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  37. Repenning, N.P., Sterman, J.D.: Nobody Ever Gets Credit for Fixing Problems that Never Happened. Calif. Manage. Rev. 43(4), 64–88 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Ross, N.C., Haddad, H.M.: Software Process Improvement and Metrics Adoption in Small Organizations. J. Inf. Syst. Technol. Plan. 3(6), 6 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  39. Sara, S., Mahmoud, S.S.M., Imtiaz Ahmad, I.A.: A Green Model for Sustainable Software Engineering. Int. J. Softw. Eng. Ap. 7(4), 55–74 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  40. Scott, L., Jeffery, R.: Practical Software Process Improvement - The IMPACT Project. In: Proceedings of the Australian Software Engineering Conference, pp. 182–189 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  41. Seacord, R.C., Elm, J., Goethert, W., Lewis, G.A., Plakosh, D., Robert, J., Wrage, L., Lindvall, M.: Measuring Software Sustainability. In: International Conference on Software Maintenance (ICSM), pp. 450–459. IEEE (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  42. SEI: Capability Maturity Model Integration for Development, Version 1.3: Improving Processes for Developing Better Products and Services (CMMI-DEV, V1.3), Carnegie Mellon, Software Engineering Institute, CMU/SEI-2010-TR-033 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  43. Sihvonen, H., Jantti, M.: How Does Training Support Software Process Improvement in Organizational Changes? In: Proceedings of 5th International Conference on New Trends in Information Science and Service Science (NISS), vol. 1, pp. 8–15. IEEE (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  44. Smith, L., Ahern, J.: Sustaining e-Learning Innovations: Literature Review - Australian Flexible Learning Framework (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  45. Wartena, C., Brussee, R.: Topic Detection by Clustering Keywords. In: 19th International Workshop on Database and Expert Systems Application (DEXA), pp. 54–58. IEEE (2008)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this paper

Cite this paper

Khurshid, N., Bannerman, P.L. (2014). Modeling SPI Sustainment in Software-Developing Organizations: A Research Framework. In: Mitasiunas, A., Rout, T., O’Connor, R.V., Dorling, A. (eds) Software Process Improvement and Capability Determination. SPICE 2014. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 477. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13036-1_19

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13036-1_19

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-13035-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-13036-1

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics