PhD Natalja Nikitina

– I am originally from Latvia. I studied at Riga Technical University before coming to Sweden. I started my studies at KTH in 2006, when I first was enrolled to the Masters program Engineering and Management of Information Systems. After receiving the MSc degree and having worked at a few Swedish software development companies, I decided to continue my studies at KTH School of ICT as a doctoral student.

– My main topic is Software Process Improvement. I chose this topic because the software development companies where I worked before my PhD studies had problems with their processes. After I started my studies I confirmed that many other software organizations have similar problems. I got interested in the topic and wanted to explore the possible solutions.

– Today there are many software development methods, such as Scrum or XP, which provide guidelines on how to develop software in a structured manner. However, many software development organizations struggle with their software processes. Because the existing software development methods are often used incorrectly or don’t fit the needs or characteristics of the organizations that use them. Therefore, many software development organizations are keen on improving or tailoring their own software development processes. As a result, Software Process Improvement (SPI) has received significant attention from practice and the research community over the last few decades. Nowadays there are a wide number of guidelines on how to run process improvement efforts. However, only a few SPI initiatives succeed. A large number of SPI initiatives fail and a significant number do not even get started. Many studies argue that the success of the SPI initiatives is dependent on the organizational, social and managerial aspects of process improvement. Those aspects however are not sufficiently covered by the existing SPI approaches and models. In my research I study these aspects and look at how they influence and can be incorporated for successful SPI efforts.

– During my research I  explored the organizational, social and managerial aspects of SPI and placed them into the context of the SPI domain. The main research result is a Software Process Improvement Framework (SPIF). The framework provides an overview of the SPI domain and positions theories representing organizational, social and managerial aspects of SPI in the context of existing SPI approaches, models, methods and practices. The SPIF framework has been complimented with four additional outcomes of the study. These are: 1) A list of organizational, social and managerial factors facilitating SPI effort. 2) A list of contextual factors impacting process change. 3) A process model for guiding software method adoption. 4) A checklist representing the properties of successful and sustainable SPI projects.

– I think that the organizational, social and managerial aspects of SPI will become a focal point of process improvement initiatives. This would imply that new SPI approaches and methods will integrate theories of organizational change management and make more emphasis on the social changes brought to the organizations.

– During the following six months I will be on maternity leave, but after that I will go in to practice and try to apply the knowledge that I obtained during my PhD. I believe that there are many software organizations in Sweden and around the world that are aware of the organizational, social and managerial aspects of SPI, but do not have the knowledge on how to incorporated them in their process change. I enjoyed the time that I spent at KTH School of ICT very much, while doing my PhD, so after some years of work in the industry I might consider the option of coming back to the university and carry out more research on this topic.