Pijl et al. (1997) point out that strict adherence to software quality standards could be counterproductive if tailoring for specific types of systems is not possible. They also argue that current quality standards are focussed on standardization processes and procedures, whereas innovative projects require creativity. However, as has been pointed out in Chapter 2, standardization can be beneficial to creativity when one does not have to focus on basic quality issues. On the other hand standardization could impede creativity when it limits the number of possible solutions. Therefore one should not focus on standardization of processes alone. As Mintzberg (1984) argues there are other coordination mechanisms such as standardization of skills, outputs and communication.
The second case study is about process standardization within a software development department. We will investigate how this process standard was chosen and implemented and what its effects were on business performance.