RESUMEN

Several issues and problems exist for software process improvement application. According to the authors' experiences, two dichotomies characterize software process improvement efforts and approaches: disciplined vs. creative work and procurer risks vs. user satisfaction. Based on these perspectives, the authors introduce six theses to illuminate the problems of pursuing software process improvement and discuss possible remedies. Approaches to software process improvement must be substantially extended to take into account organizational, economic, and strategic issues. Researchers must also perform systematic empirical studies around such technologies, by combining methods from software engineering and social sciences, for example.