Critical success factors and barriers for lightweight software process improvement in agile development: A literature review

The majority of software development companies are significantly benefitted by adopting software process improvement (SPI). This has been extensively addressed both in terms of research and established standards. In particular, the need for SPI in the context of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) led a lot of researchers to focus on this area. SMEs struggle daily to survive in a very competitive environment and their distinguishing characteristics such as the small number of employees, the flat and small organizational structure and the flexibility that governs them make it hard for them to adopt and implement SPI. On the same spirit, their distinguishing characteristics are also those that make SMEs an ideal environment for the adoption of agile methodologies. The agility that governs SMEs allows flexibility in every process they apply and, thus, promotes lightweight SPI approaches in order to remain on the battle fields of competition. In this article, we examine the special characteristics SMEs have and highlight critical success factors that should be taken advantage of and barriers that could be avoided during SPI, as they are presented in the relevant literature. In addition, we examine how critical success factors of SPI could positively affect a firm's Return on Investment and, consequently, help the firm survive in the long-term.