Introduction to Software Process Improvement

While software now pervades most facets of modern life, its historical problems have not been solved. This report explains why some of these problems have been so difficult for organizations to address and the actions required to address them. It describes the Software Engineering Institute's (SEI) software process maturity model, how this model can be used to guide software organizations in process improvement, and the various assessment and evaluation methods that use this model. The report concludes with a discussion of improvement experience and some comments on future directions for this work.