Individual Software Process Improvement Does Europe Need It?

Every so often, a new methodology is launched onto the software engineering landscape with all the force of a religious crusade. From its humble beginnings, Software Process Improvement (SPI), which includes initiatives such as CMM and ISO 9000, has spread its wings into virtually every sector of the software engineering community and in the process has transformed itself from a bag of tools and techniques, into a serious set of methodologies for enhancing organisational effectiveness and competitive success. In the latter half of the 1990’s, individual SPI methodologies such as PSP [1] and PIPSI [2] were promulgated as approaches to make the individual a better software engineer. Essentially they are a bottomup approach where individual software engineers manage and assess their own work, as opposed to the delegated practices of large, organisation-wide SPI models. Many surveys of European software organisations have shown support for SPI. For example, the SPIRE project [3] showed that: 83% of companies believe that SPI is essential for future success and 87% of companies believe that SPI can significantly improve software quality. However, time, cost and lack of knowledge are seen as the main barriers to SPI usage. In Europe to date, process improvement programmes have been concentrated at the organisational level but there has been less adoption of SPI at the level of the individual. This paper explores the use of individual SPI methodologies such as the PSP and PIPSI in a European context and poses the question – Does Europe Need Them?