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Application of GQM+Strategies in a Multi-industry State-Owned Company

An Experience Report

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Book cover Product-Focused Software Process Improvement (PROFES 2016)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 10027))

Abstract

Technological applications have an increasingly important role in most companies. Investment in Information Technologies (IT) is also growing in most of them. The need to align IT-related goals with the company’s strategic goals becomes imperative. GQM+Strategies is an approach to align organizational goals, strategies, and measurements at different levels of an organization. This paper describes experiences learned from a GQM+Strategies implementation at a large multi-industry state-owned company. The implementation was conducted by an academic research team joined by representatives of the company. Results showed an improved alignment and integration of different goals. Moreover, a holistic goal visualization was achieved, even though the company works in two different industries. As a state-owned company, external pressures force continuous planning. Sometimes, inadvertently designing those plans is the only goal achieved (i.e., plans are never executed). Using GQM+Strategies, the research team leveraged the separation of goals and strategies, allowing identification of redundancies and replicated efforts across the company. The implementation of the GQM+Strategies approach in such a complex context was very valuable. However, it also required a large amount of effort from the researchers and company representatives.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partially supported by CITIC at University of Costa Rica. Grant No. 834-B4-412. We would also like to thank all the consultants that participated in this research, including but not limited to: Dr. Marcelo Jenkins (current minister of Science and Technology of Costa Rica), Dra. Alexandra Martínez, Dr. Carlos Castro, Mag. Mauricio Arroyo, Mag. Marcela Chacón, and Mag. Francisco Cocozza.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center for Communication and Information Technologies (CITIC), University of Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica

    Gustavo López, Brenda Aymerich, Diana Garbanzo & Alexia Pacheco

Authors
  1. Gustavo López
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  2. Brenda Aymerich
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  3. Diana Garbanzo
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  4. Alexia Pacheco
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gustavo López .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

    Pekka Abrahamsson

  2. Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering, Kaiserslautern, Germany

    Andreas Jedlitschka

  3. and Technology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

    Anh Nguyen Duc

  4. University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

    Michael Felderer

  5. Okayama Prefectural University, Soja, Japan

    Sousuke Amasaki

  6. Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland

    Tommi Mikkonen

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López, G., Aymerich, B., Garbanzo, D., Pacheco, A. (2016). Application of GQM+Strategies in a Multi-industry State-Owned Company. In: Abrahamsson, P., Jedlitschka, A., Nguyen Duc, A., Felderer, M., Amasaki, S., Mikkonen, T. (eds) Product-Focused Software Process Improvement. PROFES 2016. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10027. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49094-6_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49094-6_13

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-49093-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-49094-6

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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