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Shaping Software

Enduring Ideas in the Realm of Software

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Product-Llines

How Do You Group Products Into Product Lines

How do you group your products into product lines?  You first create a grid of your business segments and your architecture styles to help group related products.  Next, you analyze quality attribute requirements to understand the needs of the product line.  Finally, create a shared architecture, infrastructure, and process for the product line.  In A …

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Organizational Structures to Support Product Lines

How do you structure a team around product lines?  Largely, it depends on the size and scope of your organization and product lines.  A small organization (30 people or less) can use a development department.  Larger organizations use business units to focus on the different functional and technical areas of the project.  Another option is …

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Software Product Lines

What is a software product line and why should you care?  A software product line is a family of products that share characteristics.  The idea is that a product line can help you reduce cost, while improving delivery time and quality, by sharing process, components, infrastructure and knowledge.  In A Practical Guide to Enterprise Architecture …

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App Types, Verticals, and Scenarios

I think application  types, verticals, and scenarios are a helpful backdrop for product-line engineering.  You can use it to organize policies and requirements.  It’s a way to increase precision.  For example, it’s one thing to build a Web application.  It’s another to build a Web application for a financial institution.  How you implement security, performance, …

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