Implementing Software Process Improvement Initiatives in Small and Medium-Size Enterprises in Brazil

Appropriate process implementation approaches are fundamental for small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) to obtain the most of software process improvement (SPI) benefits. COPPE/UFRJ has been providing SPI consultancy services to the Brazilian software industry for more than two decades. In order to cope with factors that have influence on SPI success, we developed an approach to implement SPI initiatives based on the Brazilian software process model (named MPS model) through the adoption of a SPI strategy (named SPI-KM) and the support of a process-centered software engineering environment named Taba Workstation. This paper presents the work conducted in a group of Brazilian SMEs aiming to deploy the MPS model based initiatives using the SPI-KM strategy supported by the Taba Workstation. We also discuss the lessons learned from implementing SPI in this group of SMEs and also other lessons collected throughout previous SPI experiences.