José Antonio Calvo-Manzano Villalón

Experiences in the Application of Software Process Improvement in SMES

During the last few years, many Software Process Improvement methods (SPI) have been presented to increase the quality of products and services provided by a software organization. Current Software Process Improvement (SPI) methods (i.e. ISO 15504, CBA-IPI,...), are difficult to apply to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMES) due to the costs (financial, time, and resource) associated with their application. Also, these methods are principally focused on the assessment stage. This paper presents a new SPI method, called MESOPYME, which main focus is to reduce effort and time on the SPI implementation. This method focuses on the improvement implementation stage, which is based on a concept called Action Package, whose components are described (in Section 2.1.). The results obtained in the application of a Requirements Engineering Action Package in three organizations are also presented.During the last few years, many Software Process Improvement methods (SPI) have been presented to increase the quality of products and services provided by a software organization. Current Software Process Improvement (SPI) methods (i.e. ISO 15504, CBA-IPI,...), are difficult to apply to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMES) due to the costs (financial, time, and resource) associated with their application. Also, these methods are principally focused on the assessment stage. This paper presents a new SPI method, called MESOPYME, which main focus is to reduce effort and time on the SPI implementation. This method focuses on the improvement implementation stage, which is based on a concept called Action Package, whose components are described (in Section 2.1.). The results obtained in the application of a Requirements Engineering Action Package in three organizations are also presented.

State of the art for risk management in software acquisition

This paper presents the state of the art for risk management in software acquisition. To determine it, a systematic review protocol for Software Engineering is used. Furthermore, the systematic re-view focuses on identifying initiatives and reports of risk manage-ment proposals for software acquisition in small settings. Results show increasing research in risk management and the need for more in-depth studies.

Design of a pedagogic instrument for teaching software process improvement: Teaching instrument for university and business environments

Software development organizations focus their efforts and invest resources on improving their processes and motivating their teams. The goal of this initiative is to develop high quality software products; however, some difficulties related to the learning process can be found in the dynamics interactions of the professional teams within the organization. A potential cause for these difficulties can be attributed to the use and implementation of teaching methodologies with lower levels of team member motivation. Gamification offers a possible solution for these deficiencies providing more thought-provoking environments for the learning experience. In this paper we propose a teaching instrument based on the principles of gamification to achieve a required level of motivation in teams involved in process improvement. Thus, motivation makes possible a successful implementation of the continuous improvement cycle in software development organizations.

A taxonomy for software testing projects

This article establishes taxonomy for software testing projects, allowing the development team or testing personnel to identify the tests to which the project must be subjected for validation. The taxonomy is focused on identifying software projects according to their technology. To establish the taxonomy, a development method comprised of 5 phases was applied. The developed taxonomy is comprised of 9 categories and 27 subcategories and was validated by a group of information technology (IT) managers and professionals in the field of IT through the use of a survey. The results obtained from the survey are subjected to the Mann-Whitney U test, which indicates that the taxonomy is validated. The taxonomy can be implemented in development organizations with or without a testing team that provides a classification for technology projects.