The Application of International Software Engineering Standards in Very Small Enterprises

Abstract

The software industry recognizes the value of very small enterprises in contributing valuable products and services to the economy. As the quality of software increasingly becomes a subject of concern and process approaches are maturing and gaining the confidence of companies, the use of ISO/IEC JTC 1 SC71 standards is spreading in organizations of all sizes. However, these standards were not written for development organizations with fewer than 25 employees and are consequently difficult to apply in such small settings. A new ISO/IEC JTC1 SC7 Working Group, WG24, has been established to address some of these difficulties by developing profiles and providing guidance for compliance with ISO software engineering standards. A survey was conducted to question these very small organizations about their utilization of ISO/IEC JTC1 SC7 standards and to collect data to identify problems and potential solutions to help them apply these standards. Over 400 responses were received from 32 countries. Results from the survey are discussed.