The Situational Assessment Method put to the test: Improvements based on case studies

Abstract

This paper presents an improved Situational Assessment Method (SAM) for Software Product Management (SPM). The improvement is the result of an evaluation process, of which one of the cases is included in this paper. The SAM is tool which allows product managers to evaluate and improve their processes in an incremental manner. It does this by determining which capabilities the organization has currently achieved, and what capabilities should be achieved. A gap analysis can then be performed which results in an advice to implement specific capabilities. This advice includes suggestions for method fragments (best practices) which the organization can use to achieve the capabilities.