The development of a low-overhead assessment method for Irish software SMEs

This paper describes the development of ,Adept', a low-overhead method of software process appraisal specifically targeted at Irish software small-to-medium-si2ed enterprises (SMEs). The method explicitly focuses on organisations that have little or no experience of software process improvement (SPI) programmes. Historically, it has been difficult for software SMEs to find the resources, in both time and money, necessary to engage properly in SPI. To alleviate this, we have created a low-overhead and relatively non-invasive solution to support SMEs in establishing process improvement initiatives. The paper initially describes how Adept was developed and then illustrates how the method is currently being extended to include an on-line tool that may be used by the appraised organi2ation to perform follow-on self-assessments.