BS ISO/IEC 26550:2015 pdf download-Software and systems engineering — Reference model for product line engineering and management.
4 From single-system engineering and management toward product line engineering and management Single-system engineering and management is the dominant way of conceptualizing and developing software and systems products. This Clause first outlines some of the main challenges software and systems product companies face in using single-system engineering and management approaches. It identifies variability management as the most challenging area. Variability management is discussed in 4.1. The clause concludes by explaining major differences between single-system engineering and management and product line engineering and management. Understanding these differences is a key for successful organizational transitioning from single-system engineering and management toward product line engineering and management. 4.1 Challenges product companies face in the use of single-system engineering and management The excessive use of single-system engineering and management in environments where the assumptions no longer hold contributes to a variety of issues encountered by customers, end-users, and providers. For example, customers may feel their needs are unique and acquire and sustain expensive tailored systems while commoditized, inexpensive products might be completely adequate. End-users may experience that the functionality they really need is difficult to find and/or use because the software systems are too complex and provide too much functionality. Finally, a provider may sell several interrelated products, which look and feel completely different and do not interoperate, even to the same customers. Providers of single products typically encounter at least some of the following issues when using single-system engineering: work efforts and costs are underestimated, productivity is overestimated, must-have features are missing, product schedules and/or quality goals are not met, and/or customer satisfaction remains lower than expected.