Abstract
SPL scoping is the activity for bounding Software Product Lines (SPL), gathering heterogeneous knowledge from diverse sources. For achieving an agreement among different stakeholders, a commonalty scope must be understood and committed to. However, gathering this knowledge from stakeholders with individual interests is a complex task. This paper reports the experience of scoping the SPL of a small Colombian software company, applying and evaluating a collaborative method called CoMeS-SPL. The company was looking to develop a set of products from a product previously developed with great potential to be adapted and sold to different customers. From a collaborative relationship university–enterprise model, the research groups that developed CoMeS-SPL proposed to use it answering to the company needs for defining an organization-suitable reuse scope around its platform called CORA. Both parties joined in the scoping co-production of the first SPL of the company. This method implied that the company would perform new tasks and involve other roles different for those who are used to defining the scope of a single product. The company actors considered that they obtained a useful scope and perceived the collaboration as valuable because they shared different knowledge and perspectives. The researchers were able to provide feedback on their proposed model, identifying successes and aspects to improve. The experience allowed strengthening the ties of cooperation with the company, and new projects and consultancies are being carried out.
Highlights
Software Product Line Engineering (SPLE) is a production strategy based on planned reuse of the assets in the development of a set product that shares a set of common characteristics and enough variability to be different products focused on target market, known as Software Product Lines (SPL) [1]
CoMeS-SPL was perceived as an easy and useful method, and this appreciation was reaffirmed with the intention of the participants to apply the method in future projects
The study, applying the CoMeS-SPL method in a small company, allowed us to work with an actual phenomenon with little control by researchers
Summary
Software Product Line Engineering (SPLE) is a production strategy based on planned reuse of the assets in the development of a set product that shares a set of common characteristics and enough variability to be different products focused on target market, known as Software Product Lines (SPL) [1]. SPL scoping depends on the knowledge and experience of roles involved in gathering the information of the target domain (context), the possibilities of development, and market conditions [5,6] This activity requires the interaction of participants who have partial and different knowledge because none of the scoping participants has all the necessary knowledge and experience to obtain a complete and useful scope [7]. The correct scope of an SPL depends on balanced decision-making by the participants [8] and, the diversity of participants is a critical factor It is because this activity involves marketing issues [8] as well as technical management practices of the SPL [1]. There is a lack of available methods to help answer the question: How could a software organization collaboratively perform
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