Tailoring product focused SPI

Management problems in the development of software have been addressed by a focus on improvement of the development process the last years. However, in most cases the product is sold, not the process that created it. Therefor, process improvement should have a product focus. This paper presents the practical implementation of a method for product focused software process improvement in Tokheim, and describes experiences in one development project. The main conclusions are that product focused SPI puts the product in a central position, addresses the specific needs of the company very well, and results in early availability and better visibility of benefits. As a result, commitment of the product development team to this kind of improvement programmes is established. Furthermore, it appears that the benefits of method application outweigh the (relatively low) cost already in an early phase of the project.