e04dfd73_UKAIS_2003__Abstracts__Title
[ID#] 37 [Author(s)] Ian Allison; Yasmin Merali [Abstract] Software process improvement (SPI) involves the identification and application of changes to the software development process. A deterministic perspective of improving the activity of software development has dominated the software process improvement literature. Software process improvement, however, is more complex than the deterministic approaches show. Previous work has shown that the factors that shape process improvement activity are contextual, yet the existing literature does not extend into understanding the way that these factors actually affect SPI as it is enacted. By looking at SPI as an emergent activity rather than a deterministic one, we can understand how the design and action of the change process are intertwined. Systems development and improvement is the outcome of a complex process of interaction and communication shaped by the context of the actors. The dynamic nature of software process and process improvement is such that each informs the other. A conceptual model for analysing SPI as emergent change is developed from the literature on organisational theory and SPI. The model highlights the intertwining between software development and process improvement. [Title] 
Software Process Improvement: Towards an Emergent Perspective.
UKAIS 2003: Abstracts
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