Why Do Organizations Focus on Assessments Instead of Their Process-Improvement Objectives?

Abstract

Software developing organizations are increasingly under pressure to have assessments conducted to demonstrate their development process capability to OEM customers. The reaction to an impending assessment can differ greatly between organizations. Organizations that fixate on passing the assessment instead of focusing their Software Process Improvement activities on the organization’s business goals suffer inefficiencies. In this paper, we outline an approach for a systematic analysis of practitioners’ experiences: Cases from professional experience were collected and condensed into scenarios that contrast potential influencing factors.