Software process improvement (SPI) deals with changing development practices in software (SW) companies for product quality improvement, stakeholders' satisfaction, and internal processes optimization. Success factors are the key elements of any SPI initiative. The objectives of this paper are: (1) to conduct comprehensive literature search on critical success factors (CSFs) and report them; (2) to evaluate which factors are the most important and what are the reasons behind these phenomena using Finnish SW development company as a case study example. Six main literature resources indicated 21 CSFs of various natures: organizational, human involvement and change management. CSFs found the most valuable for the case company are: management commitment, unfreezing the organization, management of the improvement project, staff involvement, internal process ownership and training and mentoring. However, the improvement process still undergoes changes. Besides, the case company representative indicated one more factor not presented in the relevant literature - managing change resistance - to be substantial for the company.
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