If the SOK Fits, Wear It: Pragmatic Process Improvement through Software Operation Knowledge

Knowledge of in-the-field software operation is nowadays acquired by many software-producing organizations. Vendors are effective in acquiring large amounts of valuable software operation data to improve the quality of their software products. For many vendors, however, it remains unclear how their actual product software processes can be advanced through structural integration of such information. In this paper, we present a template method for integration of software operation information with product software processes, and present four lessons learned that are identified based on a canonical action research study of ten months, during which the method was instantiated at a European software vendor. Results show that the template method contributes to significant software quality increase, by pragmatic but measurable improvement of software processes, without adhering to strict requirements from cumbersome maturity models or process improvement frameworks.