Adopting the SW-CMM in a small IT organization

The real problem small organizations face is managing the relationship between their environment and how this environment enables or inhibits an improvement initiative's success. Little is understood about which factors affect a software process improvement initiative in a small organization and how the organization's environment determines these factors. To help small organizations make decisions about adopting better process practices, we analyzed the relationship between a small organization's environment and its successful implementation of the Capability Maturity Model for Software (SW-CMM) level 2. The project helped us identify the organizational characteristics affecting the initiative. As we'll see, some aspects of process improvement are easier when the organization is small.