Changing Software Development: Case Study at SAP AG.
Ralph Trittmann, Dirk Stelzer, Andreas Hierholzer, Werner Mellis · 1999
The ISO 9000 quality standards, the Capability Maturity Model, and several other guidelines give recommendations to conduct software process improvement. Software process improvement usually requires considerable changes of technological and managerial tasks in software development. However, the guidelines do not provide detailed prescriptions of how to accomplish the change process. Little is known about how efforts to change software development are actually conducted. This paper describes findings of a case study into efforts to change software development at SAP, a leading software company. The case study explores general characteristics of change projects at SAP. It also identifies seven factors that distinguish successful from less successful change efforts at SAP. We compare the findings of the case study with recommendations to accomplish the change process given in the ISO 9000 quality standards. The findings may be helpful for future research into changing software developmen...