The development of international standards for very small enterprises

Abstract

Industry recognizes that there are very small enterprises that develop parts which contain software components. These enterprises are very important to the world-wide economy, and the parts they develop are often integrated into products made by larger enterprises. Failure to deliver a quality product on time and within budget threatens the competitiveness of both organizations. One way to mitigate these risks is for all the suppliers in a product chain put in place recognized engineering practices. Many international standards have been developed to capture proven engineering practices. However, these standards were not written for very small development organizations, those with less than 25 employees, and are consequently difficult to apply in such settings. An ISO/IEC JTC1/SC7 Working Group has been established to address these difficulties. © 2008 by C. Y. Laporte, S. Alexandre, A. Renault & K. Crowder.