The education of students about ISO/IEC 29110 software engineering standards and their implementations in very small entities

Worldwide, a large majority of organizations developing software are entities having up to 25 people. Since most published software engineering standards had been developed by and for large organizations, most Very Small Entities (VSEs) did not have the expertise to adapt or tailor those software engineering standards to meet their needs. The ISO/IEC 29110 series of standards and guides was specifically developed for VSEs developing software. Many countries that had not participated to international standard development, decided to join the ISO working group mandated to develop the ISO/IEC 29110 series. Since the ISO/IEC 29110 engineering and management guides are easily understandable and freely available, it has greatly helped their adoption. More than 17 countries, such as Colombia, Brazil, Haiti, Jordan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru and Thailand are teaching ISO/IEC 29110. ISO/IEC 29110 has been used by many students to develop their first products. Many countries have adopted ISO/IEC 29110 as a national standard. A few countries are helping their VSEs in the adoption, implementation and certification activities with government programs. Low cost independent certification and assessment schemes allow VSEs to demonstrate recognition of their competences to local and international customers and partners.