  Software process improvement (SPI) is a means to an end, not an end in itself
(e.g., a goal is to achieve shorter time to market and not just compliance to a
process standard). Therefore, SPI initiatives ought to be streamlined to meet
the desired values for an organization. Through a literature review, seven
secondary studies aggregating maturity models and assessment frameworks were
identified. Furthermore, we identified six proposals for building a new
maturity model. We analyzed the existing maturity models for (a) their purpose,
structure, guidelines, and (b) the degree to which they explicitly consider
values and benefits. Based on this analysis and utilizing the guidelines from
the proposals to build maturity models, we have introduced an approach for
developing a value-driven approach for SPI. The proposal leveraged the
benefits-dependency networks. We argue that our approach enables the following
key benefits: (a) as a value-driven approach, it streamlines value-delivery and
helps to avoid unnecessary process interventions, (b) as a
knowledge-repository, it helps to codify lessons learned i.e. whether adopted
practices lead to value realization, and (c) as an internal process maturity
assessment tool, it tracks the progress of process realization, which is
necessary to monitor progress towards the intended values.
