Bridging the gap between SPI and SMEs in educational settings: a learning tool supporting ISO/IEC 29110

The software development industry is dominated by a myriad of smaller organizations world-wide, including very small entities (VSEs), which have up to 25 people. Managing software process is a big challenge for practitioners. In 2011, due to the VSEs’ increasing importance, a set of ISO/IEC 29110 standards and guides were released. Although other initiatives are devoted to small entities, ISO/IEC 29110 is becoming the widely adopted standard. But it is an emerging standard and practitioners need to be actively engaged in their learning. In this sense, serious games offer the potential to entertain and educate. This study shows empirical evidence to support the overall applicability of the game proposed as learning tool. Moreover, the results indicate that the learning tool creates a positive experience, and therefore could be used as a strategy to promote the standard.