Software Process Improvement barriers: A cross-cultural comparison

Mahmood Niazi, Muhammad Ali Babar, June Verner

    Research output: Journal Article or Conference Article in JournalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

    Abstract

    Context
    Software Process Improvement initiatives have been around for many years with the growing globalisation of software development is making them increasingly important.

    Objective
    The objective of this exploratory research is to gain an in-depth understanding of barriers that can undermine SPI, in the context of Global Software Development, from the perspective of software development practitioners; this will enable SPI managers to better manage SPI initiatives. We intend to discover if the barriers to SPI initiatives in a developed country are different to those in a developing country.

    Method
    In an empirical study, Vietnamese software practitioners’ experiences of SPI barriers are compared with barriers identified by Australian practitioners. Face-to-face questionnaire-based survey sessions with 23 Vietnamese SPI practitioners were conducted. Our survey included barriers to SPI improvement initiatives identified in previous research. We asked the participants to rank each SPI barrier on a three-point scale (high, medium, low) to determine the importance of each barrier. We then compare our results, with results (identified in previous work), from 34 Australian software development practitioners.

    Results
    We identify (1) lack of project management, (2) lack of resources, (3) lack of sponsorship, (4) inexperienced staff/lack of knowledge, and (5) lack of SPI awareness as ‘high’ value SPI barriers in Vietnam. The results also reveal similarities and differences between the experiences of Australian and Vietnamese practitioners regarding the importance of the SPI barriers identified. While the Australian practitioners were also concerned with (1) lack of SPI awareness, they were even more concerned with (2) organisational politics, and (3) lack of support.

    Conclusions
    Practitioners identify SPI barriers based on previous SPI implementation experience. Their role(s) in their different organisations have helped them to understand the importance of that barrier. Vietnamese software practitioners cited more SPI barriers than their counterparts in Australia. The Vietnamese SPI barriers relate to project management, resources, and sponsorship while the Australian barriers are concerned with organisational politics and lack of support.

    Original languageEnglish
    JournalInformation and Software Technology
    Volume52
    Issue number11
    Pages (from-to)1204-1216
    Number of pages13
    ISSN0950-5849
    Publication statusPublished - 2010

    Keywords

    • Software Process Improvement barriers
    • Empirical study
    • Cross-cultural
    • CMMI

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