Investigating Software Maintenance Challenges in Small Organizations

Software Maintenance (SM) constitutes a critical function that enables organizations to continually leverage their IT capabilities. However a majority of the SM methodologies are geared toward large organizations. This is detrimental to small organizations (SO), for which SM remains an important function. This research contributes to the discipline by a) evaluating the appropriateness of existing SM methodologies for small organizations b) investigating the explicit needs of a small organization through a case based empirical study. The preliminary findings of the research indicate a lack of alignment of existing SM processes to the overall needs of the small organization. Also, the empirical investigation suggests that SM processes in small organizations are ad-hoc, resulting in a reliance on key actors for project success. Consequently, a taxonomy of the key actors is suggested and initial insights are provided about its implications on project success and important functions such as communication, collaboration and coordination.