Process improvement in four small software companies

For many small software companies, full-scale software. process improvement (SPI) initiatives are often out of reach due to prohibitive costs and lack of SPI knowledge. However, to compete in the global market, software developers must improve their productivity, time to market and customer satisfaction. Software Engineering Australia (Qld) sponsored a process improvement program in which 26 of its member companies participated. A RAPID assessment method, based on SPICE (ISO 15504), was developed and applied. The paper presents findings from the RAPID process improvement program as experienced by four small software companies. For each company, the initial assessment findings are presented, followed by the outcome of the recommendations. The discussion presented compares the capability of the four companies and links the findings from this case study to existing literature related to software process improvement success and failure.