In the competitive global economy, increasing customer value by improving software product quality is the aim for organizations. Academia and industry are collaboratively striving to find new ways to achieve this goal. The last two decades have seen a mind shift where emphasis is now on improving processes to improve the quality of products. This approach has its roots in the realization that a better development process would lead to a better quality product. Based on this process improvement frameworks were created. These frameworks enable organizations to systematically improve their development processes and strive towards the ultimate goal of improving product quality. However, these initiatives were not always successful. The deriving factors that make the adoption and implementation of such frameworks a success were still unknown. In this regard, several primary studies have been conducted to identify the factors that make software process improvement initiative successful. Researchers have been investigating factors that affect success of Software Process Improvement (SPI). There was still a lack of a secondary study where systematic approach has been used to find factors that affect the success of SPI. In our thesis project we present results of the systematic review to accumulate success factors for SPI. These findings were validated by conducting an industrial survey. With our secondary study we have identified 31 important success factor categories of SPI. We have contributed to the body of knowledge by devising formal definitions for important factors. We have also unveiled the relationship of SPI success factors not only to different SPI framework but also to software process areas.

This study has   focused on system development approaches and system development   methodologies. The purpose of the study has been to present a view on the   current situation of different development approaches (agile, traditional,   iterative and hybrid) and methodologies by highlighting the situation from a   number of perspectives. Questions that are answered are: which system   development approaches and methodologies that can be said to be most   frequently used based on the respondents, if the mentioned approaches can be   given certain characteristics based on a selection of factors and the   respondents' attitude towards the approach they practice. The study has been   conducted as a survey where the answers have been obtained via social media.   The result shows that agile methodologies dominate and that they are often   included in various forms of hybrid and agile approaches. Furthermore, it has   not been possible to create an in-depth knowledge of the approaches based on   the selected factors. Finally, it is noted that project members who practice   an agile approach have a great confidence in the approach and have a strong   conviction that it contributes to increase the quality of the software.

Despite documented best practices and specialized tools, software organizations struggle to deliver quality software that is on time, within budget, and meets customer requirements. Managers seeking improved software project outcomes face two dominant software paradigms which differ in their emphasis on upfront planning, customer collaboration, and product documentation: plan-driven and agile. Rather than promoting one approach over the other, this research advocates improving software management practices by developing the organization’s ambidextrous capability. Ambidextrous organizations have the ability to simultaneously succeed at two seemingly contradictory capabilities (e.g. discipline and agility) which leads to enhanced organizational performance. Overall, this study asks the question: How can an ambidextrous perspective facilitate improvement in software practices? Driven by this question, and based on a two year action research study at a small software firm, TelSoft, the objectives of this research are to: 1. Identify dualities involved in improving software practices 2. Design interventions based on these dualities to improve software practices 3. Explore the process of becoming an ambidextrous software organization The resulting dissertation consists of a summary and four papers that each identify and address particular dualities encountered during software process improvement. The first paper asserts that both process-driven and perception-driven inquiry should be used during assessment of software practices, presents a model that shows how this combination can occur, and demonstrates the use of this model at TelSoft. The second paper explicates two theories for understanding and resolving issues in requirements engineering practice – repeat-ability and response-ability – and argues for the need to negotiate between the two. The third paper identifies a tension between managing legacy and current processes and proposes a model for software process reengineering, a systematic process for leveraging legacy processes created during prior SPI efforts. Finally, the fourth paper applies the theoretical lens of ambidexterity to understand the overall change initiative in terms of the tension between alignment and adaptability. The study used a variety of data sources to diagnose software practices, including semi-structured interviews, software process documents, meeting interactions, and workshop discussions. Subsequently, we established, facilitated, and tracked focused improvement teams in the areas of customer relations, requirements management, quality assurance, project portfolio management, and process management. Furthermore, we created and trained two management teams with responsibility for ongoing management of SPI and project portfolio management respectively. We argue that these activities improved software practices at TelSoft and provided a stronger foundation for continuous improvement. Keywords: Ambidexterity, software process improvement (SPI), action research, requirements engineering assessment, action planning, software process reengineering, software management.

The Information Technology (IT) market is growing. The number of companies and the volume of contracting in IT has increased. Because of the increasing competition, organizations need to improve their market presence and mainly seek increased efficiency and effectiveness through the implementation of software process improvement (SPI). Passos, Dias-Neto e Barreto (2012a) to believe that the results of this initiative appear when the achieved benefits are aligned with the organizational values. This study aims to verify the benefits achieved by organizations with the implementation of MPS.BR; to identify if organizational values are present in these organizations and to verify the existence of relationship between the benefits achieved by the implementation of software process models and organizational values. Data collection was conducted through questionnaires in organizations which implemented MPS.BR. The participants were 9 organizations, 47 questionnaires were answered. Benefits surveyed "clearer processes" and "processes with more quality" were the most perceived as "reduction in development time" and "reduction in the cost of development", the less checked by employees. After completing statistical analyzes, it was possible to reduce to four factors the 18 benefits studied, identifying the categories: quality, control, process and staff. Of the 10 organizational values studied, the most noted were "teamwork" and "responsibility" and the least observed were "strategy" and "information". The statistical analysis showed the relationship between the benefits and the organizational values, showed that organizational commitment and supervision values are strongly correlated of impactful on the benefits, suggesting that software development organizations that wish to achieve the benefits from the implementation of MPS.BR should focus their efforts on strengthening the supervision in their organization and develop a commitment to their team. / O mercado de Tecnologia da Informação está em ritmo crescente. Tem aumentado a quantidade de empresas e o volume de aquisições e contratações na área. Com a concorrência crescente, as organizações precisam melhorar sua presença no mercado e, principalmente, buscar aumento de eficiência e eficácia por meio da implementação de melhoria de processo de software. Segundo Passos, Dias-neto e Barreto (2012a), para que essa iniciativa traga resultados, um dos principais fatores é que os benefícios provenientes dessa implantação estejam alinhados com os valores organizacionais. Diante do exposto, este estudo pretende verificar quais os benefícios conquistados pelas organizações com a implementação da Melhoria de Processo de Software Brasileiro - MPS.BR; identificar quais valores organizacionais estão presentes nessas organizações; e verificar a existência de relações entre os benefícios alcançados pela implementação de modelos de processo de software e os valores organizacionais. O levantamento de dados foi realizado por meio de aplicação de questionários em organizações que possuem o Modelo de Processo de Software Brasileiro – MPS.BR implementado. Participaram da pesquisa 9 organizações, foram respondidos 47 questionários. Entre os benefícios pesquisados, ―processos mais claros‖ e ―processos com mais qualidade‖ foram os mais percebidos e ―redução no tempo de desenvolvimento‖ e ―redução no custo de desenvolvimento‖, os menos verificados pelos empregados. Depois de realizadas análises estatísticas, foi possível reduzir para 4 fatores os 18 benefícios estudados, identificando as categorias qualidade, controle, processo e equipe. Dos 10 valores organizacionais estudados, os mais constatados foram ―trabalho em equipe‖ e ―responsabilidade‖ e os menos observados foram ―estratégia‖ e ―informação‖. As análises estatísticas para verificar as correlações entre os benefícios e os valores organizacionais evidenciaram que os valores organizacionais, comprometimento e supervisão, se correlacionam, de forma impactante nos benefícios, sugerindo que as organizações de desenvolvimento de software que desejam alcançar os benefícios com a implementação do MPS.BR devem focar seus esforços em fortalecer a supervisão em sua organização e desenvolver o comprometimento em sua equipe. / São Cristóvão, SE