A Model to Measure Organizational Readiness for Software Process Improvement

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This paper presents a model that can be used to measure the readiness of an organization to engage in a software process improvement (SPI) program. This model focuses on the main stakeholders of an SPI program, which include the “Sponsor”, the “Change Agent”, and the “Organization” directly affected by the improvements. The model identifies the drivers that motivate the SPI main stakeholders and assigns metrics to these drivers so that it is possible to evaluate the readiness of the whole organization to start and maintain an SPI program. The model presented augments the concepts of “Change Management” from the Software Engineering Institute by incorporating the experiences of ABB in implementing SPI programs in its business units during the past decade. The paper presents as well an example on how this model has been used to track the evolution of SPI in an ABB organization.