Master's Thesis

An analysis of the difference in software project management practices between organizations registered to ISO 9001 and non-registered organizations

Author: Chris FitzGibbon
Publisher: Carleton University
Date:  1999

More information on this research can be obtained by contacting Chris FitzGibbon.

Abstract

This research investigates the differences in project management practices between software organizations registered to the ISO 9001 quality standard and those not ISO 9001 registered. Three project outcomes are used to conduct this comparison: project duration, schedule overrun and project manager satisfaction that the software met customer requirements. The study examines the following project characteristics: time spent planning, time spent testing, time spent developing software code, time spent maintaining project records, time spent conducting design reviews and code inspections, customer involvement in the software development process, involvement of software engineers in project planning, and project manager power. Data were collected on 52 software projects from organizations operating in Canada.

The study found no significant differences between the two samples could be explained by any of the project characteristics examined. However, ISO 9001 and non-ISO 9001 software organizations did differ in their projects’ schedule overruns. The study also found a difference in the importance attributed to the project characteristics by ISO 9001 and non-ISO 9001 samples.