The success of most software companies depends largely on software product quality. High product quality is usually a result of advanced software development processes. Hence, improvement actions should be selected based on sound knowledge about the dependencies between software product quality attributes and software development processes.

This article describes a method for developing product/process dependency models (PPDMs) for product-driven software process improvement. The basic idea of the PPDM approach is that there are dependencies between product quality attributes, which are examined according to ISO 9126, and the software processes, which are assessed with the BOOTSTRAP methodology for example. The Goal-Question-Metric approach is used for product/process dependency hypothesis generation, analysis, and validation. We claim that after finding and using these dependencies it is possible to focus improvement activities precisely and use resources more efficiently. The approach is currently being applied in three industrial applications in the ESPRIT project PROFES.