Skip to main content

Integrated Process Improvement Approach: Case Studies in Skype Technologies Ltd.

  • Conference paper
Software Process Improvement and Capability Determination (SPICE 2012)

Abstract

Software development organizations find support for rapid changes from agile software development methodologies. The agile approaches are also being applied to process improvement to ensure that organizations keep up with the rapidly changing business environment. In this paper we present an approach to process improvement that integrates technology oriented strategy, agile development methods and knowledge-sharing networks, and is capable of meeting high resource and schedule constraints. The approach was continuously developed over the course of two years in a global technology corporation that experienced 55% revenue and 62% employee growth during that period. Two organization-wide process improvements are discussed as the detailed case studies of this approach. The approach enabled a new team to take ownership of new process areas and implement improvements with high employee involvement and empowerment.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Jeffery, M., Leliveld, I.: Best Practices in IT Portfolio Management. MIT Sloan Management Review (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Salo, O., Abrahamsson, P.: An Iterative Improvement Process for Agile Software Development. Software Process: Improvement and Practice 12, 81–100 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. ISO/IEC 15504-4:2004 - Information technology - Process assessment - Part 4: Guidance on use for process improvement and process capability determination (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Wilkes, M.V., Wheeler, D.J., Gill, S.: The Preparation of Programs for an Electronic Digital Computer. Addison-Wesley (1951)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Lycett, M., Macredie, R.D., Patel, C., Paul, R.J.: Migrating agile methods to standardized development practice. Computer 36, 79–85 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Beck, K.: Embracing Change with Extreme Programming. Computer 32, 70–77 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Schwaber, K.: Scrum Development Process. In: Springer (ed.) Tenth Annual Conference on Object-Oriented Programming Systems, Languages, and Applications - Workshop on Business Object Design and Implementation, Austin, Texas, USA, pp. 117–134 (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Jeffries, R.E.: eXtreme Testing: Why Aggressive Software Development Calls for Radical Testing Efforts. Software Testing & Quality Engineering, 23–26 (March/April 1999)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Salo, O.: Enabling Software Process Improvement in Agile Software Development Teams and Organisations. Faculty of Science, PhD, p. 153. University of Oulu, Oulu (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Boehm, B., Turner, R.: Using risk to balance agile and plan-driven methods. Computer 36, 57–66 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Agile Alliance: Manifesto for Agile Software Development (2001), http://goo.gl/ruvK

  12. Software Quality Institute: SPICE Phase 2 Trials Interim Report (1998), http://goo.gl/WpXV8

  13. Lepasaar, M.: Software Process Improvement in Small Software Organizations. Department of Computer Engineering, MSc. Thesis at Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Klesment, K.: Joint influence of software process improvement, quality management and culture based on the example of organization N. Department of Informatics, MSc Thesis at Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Seeba, A.: Unified Software Development Process and a Case Study of It’s Application. Department of Computer Science, MSc Thesis at University of Tartu, Tartu (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Valter, K.: Designing change management process based on international process standards and models. Department of Computer Science, BSc. Thesis at Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Karpištšenko, A., Altermann, A.: Conducting first-time software process improvement work in a small software development company. Department of Quality Sciences, MSc Thesis at Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Piho, G.: About implementation of XP in small Estonian software organizations. Institute of Informatics, MSc Thesis at Tallinn University, Tallinn (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Lepmets, M., Nael, M.: Balancing Scrum Project Management Process. In: Sillitti, A., Martin, A., Wang, X., Whitworth, E. (eds.) XP 2010. LNBIP, vol. 48, pp. 391–392. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  20. McBride, T., Lepmets, M.: The Many Forms of Process Improvement - Results of an International Survey. In: Software Quality Days, p. 7. Springer, Vienna (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Tersine, R.J.: The primary drivers for continuous improvement: the reduction of the triad of waste. Journal of Managerial Issues (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Dingsøyr, T., Dyba, T., Abrahamsson, P.: A Preliminary Roadmap for Empirical Research on Agile Software Development. In: Agile 2008 Conference, Toronto, pp. 83–94 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Glazer, H., Dalton, J., Anderson, D., Konrad, M., Shrum, S.: CMMI or Agile: Why Not Embrace Both! (2008), http://goo.gl/FP5TC

  24. Boehm, B., Turner, R.: Balancing Agility and Discipline - A Guide for the Perplexed, Boston (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Land, R., Blankers, L., Chaudron, M., Crnkovic, I.: COTS Selection Best Practices in Literature and in Industry. In: Mei, H. (ed.) ICSR 2008. LNCS, vol. 5030, pp. 100–111. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  26. Paulk, M.C., Davis, N., Maccherone, L.: On Empirical Research Into Scrum (2009), http://goo.gl/vNNT2

  27. Smith, M.L., Erwin, J.: Role & Responsibility Charting, RACI (2010), http://goo.gl/bSibx

  28. Bergman, B., Klefsjö, B.: Quality from Customer Needs to Customer Satisfaction. Studentlitteratur, Lund (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Trkman, M., Trkman, P.: A wiki as internet: a critical analysis using the Delone and McLean model. Online Information Review 33, 1087–1102 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Bass, L., Berenbach, B.: Leadership and Management in Software Architecture Workshop 2009 report. ACM Sigsoft Software Engineering Notes 34, 25–27 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Dyer, J.H., Nobeoka, K.: Creating and managing a high performance knowledge-sharing network: the Toyota case. Strategic Management Journal 21, 345–367 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Tuisk, A.: Developing the Issue Management Process for Skype Technologies. Department of Technology Management and Economics, MSc. Thesis at Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  33. ISO/IEC 12207: Information technology – Software life cycle processes. ISO/IEC 12207 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  34. CMMI v1.3: CMMI® for Development, Version 1.3. Software Engineering Institute (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  35. Kajko-Mattson, M., Forssander, S., Olsson, U.: Corrective Maintenance Maturity Model: Maintainers Education and Training. In: International Conference on Software Engineering, pp. 610–619. IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  36. Rance, S., Rudd, C., Lacy, S., Hanna, A.: ITIL Service Transition. TSO, London (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  37. Steinberg, R., Rudd, C., Lacy, S., Hanna, A.: ITIL Service Operation. TSO, London (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  38. Gaffney, G.: What is an Affinity Diagramming? Information & Design (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  39. Curtis, C., Whited, V., Kancler, D., Burneka, C.: Analyzing Requirements for and Designing a Collaborative Tool based on Functional and User Input. In: International Symposium on Collaborative Technologies and Systems, pp. 220–225 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  40. Wu, L., Sahraoui, H.: Supporting Web Collaboration for Cooperative Software Development. In: IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Web Intelligence, pp. 740–743 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  41. McAfee, A.P.: Enterprise 2.0: The Dawn of Emergent Collaboration (2006), http://goo.gl/VLwN7

  42. Hasan, H., Pfaff, C.C.: The Wiki: an environment to revolutionise employees’ interaction with corporate knowledge. In: 18th Australia Conference on Computer-Human Interaction: Design: Activities, Artefacts and Environments, vol. 206, pp. 377–380 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  43. Rus, I., Lindvall, M.: Knowledge Management in Software Engineering. IEEE Software 19, 26–38 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Tuisk, A., Karpištšenko, A., Lepmets, M. (2012). Integrated Process Improvement Approach: Case Studies in Skype Technologies Ltd.. In: Mas, A., Mesquida, A., Rout, T., O’Connor, R.V., Dorling, A. (eds) Software Process Improvement and Capability Determination. SPICE 2012. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 290. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-30439-2_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-30439-2_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-30438-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-30439-2

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics