Managing Software Development in a Small Non-IT Company – A Case Study

Abstract: We have done a case study on a small sheet metal construction company in Sweden that is developing their own software that will be beneficial for their business. We interviewed staff from different roles in the company and performed thematic analysis on the data we collected. This study might show what is needed from the management of a small non-IT company to be able to manage both their main business and the additional activity of software development. It might also show beneficial habits in the software development process in a company like this. We could not come across many examples of very similar cases, which made us believe that this topic needed to be studied. We found that in this company there are many things that contribute to making it possible for the dual activity to take place. For example, the varied skills that some of the staff members had made it easier for them to take on different tasks, and also that the managers had the will to see the software succeed despite several drawbacks. We hope that our findings might be useful for other companies that want to develop software, or for future research work that includes more companies.