Exploring the impact of situational context

Over the decades, a variety of software development processes have been proposed, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. It is however widely accepted that there is no single process that is perfectly suited to all settings, thus a software process should be molded to the needs of its situational context. In previous work, we have consolidated a substantial body of related research into an initial reference framework of the situational factors affecting the software development process. Practitioners can consult this framework in order to profile their context, a step necessary for effective software process decision making. In this paper, we report on the findings from a case study involving process discovery in a small but successful and growing software development firm. In this organization, which has a focus on continuous software evolution and delivery, we also applied the situational factors reference framework, finding that context is a complex and key informant for software process decisions. Studies of this type highlight the role of situational context in software process definition and evolution, and they raise awareness not just of the importance of situational context, but also of the complexity surrounding software process contexts, a complexity which may not be fully appreciated in all software development settings.