Improving software organizations: agility challenges and implications
Anna Börjesson, Lars Mathiassen · Information Technology and People · 2005
Purpose The paper seeks to explore the impact of events in Software Process Improvement (SPI) environments based on a longitudinal study of a requirements management initiative at Ericsson. Design/methodology/approach The paper presents the initiative from three perspectives – the improvement initiative, the targeted software practices, and the environment. Findings SPI initiatives easily get interrupted, are side‐tracked, and progress slowly due to changing environments. While most practitioners are painfully aware of this, the SPI literature has so far only touched on the issue. Agility principles would have helped Ericsson respond more effectively to events that impacted the initiative. Development of agile SPI practices requires coordination and alignment with other initiatives to develop agile software organizations. Originality/value SPI has been adopted by many organizations to help them to deliver quality software. However, its success is a matter of debate and this paper deals with the issues involved.