What Do Software Practitioners Really Think About Software Process Improvement Project Success? An Exploratory Study

Software practitioners have always shown a significant interest in implementing software process improvement (SPI) initiatives to ensure the delivery of quality products. Software industry and SPI methodologies have evolved over a period of time; however, still many SPI initiatives have not been successful. There is a need to understand software practitioners’ perspectives on SPI success which can be helpful for tailoring or improving effective situation-specific SPI methodologies. This research presents an exploratory study of Turkish software development organizations. The main research question is: What software practitioners’ really think about SPI project success. This study was conducted with 27 Turkish software development organizations to identity and analyse important SPI factors that contribute to the success of SPI projects. The results reveal that professional growth, increased professional recognition, project planning, monitoring of project risks, providing technical support, adoption of current technologies, strong leadership and commitment are among the highest ranked factors that contribute towards the success of SPI initiatives. The findings of this research provide a foundation for further work in tailoring and improving situation-specific SPI methodologies for software project environments.