Do successful software product line organizations have certain traits in common?
They do indeed. The best ones are comfortable with process discipline, have a strong and tireless champion for the approach in a position of leadership while the effort is being launched, and have long and broad experience in the application areas covered by the product line. Less tangibly but just as observable is one other aspect, something we’ve nicknamed the “e pluribus unum effect.” E pluribus unum is Latin, of course, for “out of many, one.” All the most successful product line organizations we’ve observed regard their primary mission as building and maintaining the product line (singular) or (equivalently) a production capability. Organizations still climbing the product line hill tend to describe themselves as turning out products (plural). The difference in mindset is subtle but powerful. Companies with the singular outlook realize that they have built a product capability that transcends any one product or even any several products. To them, turning out products is the easy p
They do indeed. The most successful ones are comfortable with process discipline, have a strong and tireless champion for the approach in a position of leadership, and have lengthy and broad experience in the application areas covered by the product line. Less tangible but just as observable is one other trait, something we’ve nicknamed “the e pluribus unum effect.” E pluribus unum is Latin, of course, for “out of many, one.” All of the most successful product line organizations we’ve observed regard their primary missions as building and maintaining the product line (singular) or equivalently, a production capability. Organizations that have still not fully embraced the product line approach tend to describe themselves as turning out products (plural). The difference in mindset is subtle but significant. Companies with the singular outlook realize that they have built a product capability that transcends any one product, or even any group of products. To them, turning out products is
Related Questions
- Can you suggest a particular type of promotion which has proven to be the most successful in marketing AffirmWare’s product line?
- Where can I read about other organizations that have successfully adopted the software product line approach?
- Do successful software product line organizations have certain traits in common?
