International Standards

The following standards are known and used all over the world. They primarily focus on quality aspects within development processes. Some of them, like IEEE Std-830-1998, contain specific instructions for outlines or processes.

IEEE Std-830-1998 - Recommended Practice for Software Requirements Specification

This standard by IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) provides a guideline for methodical creation of software requirements. It describes the creation process of software specifications with its content and characteristics and provides suggestions for the structure of the specification.

What you need to know:

This standard does not provide any instructions on which methods and tools to use within the creation of requirements specifications.
For more information on IEEE Std-830-1998 see: http://www.ieee.org

ISO 9000 ff.

This most common standard of ISO (International Organization for Standardization) aims at providing a quality management system for the improvement of production processes in organizations. ISO 9000 ff. sets criteria for quality management, but it does not provide instructions on how they have to be applied.

What you need to know:

As the specifications of quality of services and products are quite abstract, it may be challenging to put them into practice.
Often when this standard is applied processes are stipulated and become inflexible, which is contrary to the basic thought of constant improvement.
An ISO 9000 certification does not guarantee that a company´s products are of high quality as well.
For more information on ISO 9000 ff. see: http://www.iso.org

ISO / IEC 12207 Standard for Information Technology – Software life cycle processes

ISO 12207 has replaced MIL-STD-498. It is divided in three parts and provides a framework for the software life-cycle. This standard describes processes, activities, and tasks which are performed during acquisition, tendering, use and maintenance of software products.

What you need to know:

This standard cannot be applied when standardized software is to be integrated into customer-specific software.
Although this standard describes the software life-cycle, it provides no details on how software products shall be introduced, used, and maintained.
For more information on ISO 12207 see: http://www.iso.org

CMMI

The Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) has replaced the common Capability Maturity Model (CMM, sometimes referred to as Software CMM). CMMI is a maturity model to evaluate and measure the quality (maturity) of a development process. It describes requirements for a high-quality development process, but it does not contain specific steps of this process.

What you need to know:

A high degree of maturity is no guarantee for a successful development result.
Important core aspects like risk management are not included.
For more information on CMMI see:
http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/general

SPICE (Software Process Improvement and Capability Etermination), [ISO 15504]

SPICE was developed to provide companies with a method to valuate processes within their software development. SPICE covers all phases of a software´s life-cycle. The basic idea is to identify possibilities for improvement by reviewing the degree of maturity of the process.

What you need to know:

There is no connection to other standards.
There are no specifications on how to deal with claims and characteristics of a software product´s quality.
For more information on SPICE see:
http://www.sqi.gu.edu.au/spice