Assessment Tools as Drivers for SPI: Short-term Benefits and Long-term Challenges

Sune Dueholm Mûller, Jacob Nørbjerg, Hiu Ngan Cho

Research output: Contribution to journalConference article in JournalResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Full scale software process maturity assessments are costly, can have large organizational impact, and are carried out at long (12-24 months) intervals. Consequently, there is a need for techniques and tools to monitor and help manage an SPI project through inexpensive, ongoing progress assessments. In this paper we present findings from two cases of using such a tool. We have found that the tool does provide useful snapshots of the status of SPI projects, but that long-term use of the tool introduces costs and challenges related to modifying and tailoring the tool to both the organizational context and the SPI implementation approach. Also, persistent use of an assessment tool may jeopardize assessment reliability due to wear-out and routinization.
Original languageEnglish
JournalProceedings of the 16th International Conference on Information Systems Development (ISD2007)
Publication statusPublished - 2007

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