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A critical look at ISO 9000 for software quality management

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Abstract

A considerable number of software suppliers report improvements in product and service quality, development costs and time to market achieved with the help of the ISO 9000 standards. Nevertheless, the ISO 9000 family has received unfavourable criticism in journals, textbooks and at software quality conferences. The paper summarizes, discusses and reviews eleven of the most popular arguments against the ISO 9000 standards. The review of the criticism is based on findings of two empirical surveys among European software suppliers that have implemented an ISO 9000 quality system. The paper concludes with suggestions and guidelines for advances in software quality management concepts, such as the ISO 9000 family, CMM, BOOTSTRAP and the emerging SPICE standard.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lehrstuhl fuer Wirtschaftsinformatik, Systementwicklung, Universitaet zu Koeln, Albertus- Magnus-Platz, D-50923, Koeln, Germany

    Dirk Stelzer, Werner Mellis & Georg Herzwurm

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  1. Dirk Stelzer
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  2. Werner Mellis
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  3. Georg Herzwurm
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Stelzer, D., Mellis, W. & Herzwurm, G. A critical look at ISO 9000 for software quality management. Software Quality Journal 6, 65–79 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018591430752

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