ABSTRACT
An open issue in industry is the combination of software reuse in
the context of large scale Agile Software Development. The speed
offered by Agile Software Development is needed for short time
to market, while reuse strategies such as Software Product Line
Engineering are needed for long-term productivity, efficiency, and
profit. The paper investigates, through a survey, communication
factors affecting both speed and reuse in 3 large companies
developing embedded systems and employing Agile Software
Development and Software Product Line Engineering. Our results
include a prioritized list of communication related factors
obtained by statistical analysis and the recognition and spread of
the factors in the companies. We have recognized 5 interfaces
with the Agile development team that need to be improved:
system engineers (architects), product management, distributed
teams, inter-project teams and sales unit. Few factors (involving
inter-project communication) depend on the business drivers for
the company. We also reveal that Agile teams need strategic and
architectural inputs in order to be implanted in a large company
employing Software Product Line Engineering. Academic and
industrial training as well as different tactics for co-location
would improve the communication skills of engineers. There is
also a need for solutions, in the reference architecture, for
fostering Agile Software Development: the goal is the
combination of the focus on customer value of the teams,
reusability, system requirements and avoidance of organizational
dependencies.