A tentative framework for managing software product development in small companies

Deploying an appropriate software process can improve the effectiveness of software engineering. Still, small companies find it hard to allocate resources to software process improvement and tailor existing process models for their needs. We present a tentative framework for managing software product development in small companies. The framework combines business and process management through four cycles of control: (1) strategic release management provides the interface between business management and product development; (2) release project management handles the development of individual product versions; (3) iteration management deals with the incremental development of product functionality within release projects; and (4) mini-milestones are used to get an indication of system status during development.