Software Development in Small IT Firms: The Whitewater Method

Nearly 99% of all U.S. firms are small businesses and roughly half the private sector employees work for a small business. Yet surprisingly little research attention is given to IT and its role in small firms; neither from the small consumer nor producer perspective. This area is of increasing importance, as small firms struggle to grow and gain competitive advantage against the backdrop of rapid technological advancements. This paper looks at some of the more salient components of software usage and development gained from preliminary interviews with executives and IT workers at 3 small IT firms with the purpose of identifying how small firms address technology decisions related to the software they use and develop. Preliminary interviews have revealed that the development processes is distinctly different for small firms and the perspective from which they address key decisions in the development process is also different. In contrast to the traditional waterfall software development methodology we introduce the whitewater approach used by small IT developers.