Applying TQM, CMM and ISO 9001 in Knowledge Management for software development process improvement

2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming-Chang Lee ◽  
To Chang
2014 ◽  
pp. 1363-1384
Author(s):  
Mohammad Zarour ◽  
Alain Abran ◽  
Jean-Marc Desharnais

Software organizations have been struggling for decades to improve the quality of their products by improving their software development processes. Designing an improvement program for a software development process is a demanding and complex task. This task consists of two main processes: the assessment process and the improvement process. A successful improvement process requires first a successful assessment; failing to assess the organization’s software development process could create unsatisfactory results. Although very small enterprises (VSEs) have several interesting characteristics such as flexibility and ease of communications, initiating an assessment and improvement process based on well-known Software Process Improvement (SPI) models such as Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) and ISO 15504 is more challenging in such VSEs. Accordingly, researchers and practitioners have designed a few assessment methods to meet the needs of VSEs organizations to initiate an SPI process. This chapter discusses the assessment and improvement process in VSEs; we first examine VSEs characteristics and problems. Next, we discuss the different assessment methods and standards designed to fit the needs of such organizations and how to compare them. Finally, we present future research work perceived in this context.


Author(s):  
Marcello Chedid ◽  
Leonor Teixeira

Software development organization (SDO) is a kind of knowledge-intensive business and their large majority is small and medium enterprise (SME) facing similar challenges of large ones. The diversity and complexity of the SDO environment makes knowledge the fundamental element in the software development process, which strengthens the importance of an effective knowledge management process. The software development process involves multidisciplinary teams, and the various working meetings that occur during a project are conducive to generate and share a lot of knowledge, in particular tacit knowledge. The use of a knowledge management process that enables to manage tacit knowledge will define the difference between a good SDO performance and the best SDO performance. This chapter aims to present an exploratory study based on literature review, with the aim of identifying the main challenge of knowledge management in the SDO context. The authors also aim to address some new research directions.


Author(s):  
Shuib Bin Basri ◽  
Rory V. O’Connor

This chapter discusses knowledge management (KM) aspects of how software process and software process improvement (SPI) is practiced within very small entities (VSEs) in the context of Irish software development industry. In particular, this study is concerned with the process of software development knowledge management in supporting the SPI. In order to understand the support process, the authors of this chapter have studied how KM processes are practiced within VSEs which includes communication, learning, sharing, and documentation process. This study also focuses in detail on the issues of the knowledge atrophy problem in VSEs. The findings explain how KM has been practiced and influenced the software development process and process improvement in VSEs. This result indicates that KM processes in VSEs are being undertaken in a very informal manner and also in indirect way. This is due to a small team size, autonomous working and macro-management style and caused VSEs to be more informal in their KM processes specifically and SPI generally. In addition, the results have indicated that the informal environment and culture helped VSEs to easily create and share knowledge between staff members and also assisted VSEs to mitigate the knowledge atrophy problem in their organization.


Author(s):  
Rory V. O'Connor ◽  
Shuib Basri

Software and systems engineering is distinct from other forms of engineering as it deals with an intangible product, where the progress in construction is not explicitly visible and team members often rely on the documentation of others to follow and review progress. Furthermore unlike traditional engineering disciplines, there is no single standardized unified process. The role of knowledge management in the software engineering literature is becoming more evident, as the software development activity is essentially a human knowledge intensive activity and is seen by many as a key factor. This paper discusses the role of software development knowledge management within software development process and specifically how software development knowledge is managed in software development in order to support software process improvement and the role of knowledge management in this. The authors present the results of a study of knowledge management process practices in very small software companies and discusses these under the major identified issues of: Communication; Learning and sharing; Documentation and Knowledge management process and commitment. The findings in this study give an insight towards knowledge management practices as they relate to software development process practices in very small companies and the important factors that must be considered to preserve knowledge and quality software.


Author(s):  
DIMITRIS PANAGIOTOU ◽  
GREGORIS MENTZAS

Managing knowledge in software development is very important, since software development is a human and knowledge intensive activity. The main asset of a software organization consists of its intellectual capital. In this paper we propose KnowBench, a novel knowledge management system that integrates into the daily software development process and can be used for capturing knowledge and experience as soon as it is generated by providing lightweight tools based on Semantic Web technologies. This approach supports developers during the software development process to produce better quality software. The goal of KnowBench is to support the whole knowledge management process when developers design and implement software by supporting identification, acquisition, development, distribution, preservation, and use of knowledge — the building blocks of a knowledge management system.


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