Helping Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises In Moving Towards Software Product Lines

The KobrA method developed at Fraunhofer IESE is an approach for component-based product line development. It is based on our experience gained from many industrial projects. In this paper, we present that KobrA's approach of building software product lines is scaleable to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Therefore, we analyze the typical SME context and the constraints under which these companies usually operate. The result is a set of requirements for product line approaches that are designed for being successful also in the context of SMEs. Finally, we show that the KobrA method does fulfil these requirements and, thus, helps SMEs in moving towards software product lines.