Factors of influence in software process improvement: An ISO/IEC 29110 for very-small entities

The recently introduced ISO/IEC 29110 standard Lifecycle profile for Very Small Entities (VSE) has been adopted and practiced in many small and medium software companies, including in Thailand's software industry. Many Thai companies complete their software process improvement (SPI) initiative program and have been certified. There are, however, a number of participants who fail to succeed. This study was concerned with the factors that influence the accomplishment of the standard implementation in various VSE characteristics. In order to achieve this goal, surveying and extracting critical factors from prior studies were carried out and then the surveyed factors were evaluated by the experts' opinion. The analysis of comments and recommendations from the experts was performed using a qualitative content analysis method. This paper presents the initial set of influence factors on both positive and negative impacts of ISO/IEC 29110 implementation. The aim was to help such SPI practitioners with some considerations to manage their approach of adoption appropriately.