Identifying properties of software change request process: Qualitative investigation in very small software companies

Software systems change during all phases of their life cycles. After software delivery, users should have effective ways for specifying new requests and reporting problems. Handling of this new requests or problem reports must be supported with sound processes and appropriate tools. In this paper is presented a segment of qualitative research conducted with software experts from very small software companies related to change request process in maintenance phase of software life cycle. Software experts were interviewed in their companies or participated in focus groups. This research used constructivist grounded theory that is suitable methodology for creating explanations of common practice. Analysis of qualitative empirical data revealed properties regarding process implementation, the level of automation, feedback, iterativeness and process duration.