November 4, 2009—John D. McGregor, associate professor of computer science at Clemson University and visiting scientist at the Software Engineering Institute will present the first of a three-part webinar series on software product line management today at noon ET.

The increasingly diverse nature of the software industry requires strategies that can be tailored to meet the specific objectives of the organization. The software product line strategy integrates business and technical practices to achieve an organization which has the capability to produce a set of related products achieving extraordinary efficiencies in the development process. Although many software companies have grouped products with similar features, such as office suites or the community-pro-enterprise feature levels, few have carried that grouping into the techniques by which the products are actually constructed.

This presentation will include product line concepts, success stories, and resources that are available from the product line community for companies just beginning to adopt these practices. The presentation will illustrate how the strategy blends architecture-centric development activities with management coordination activities and will provide a high-level view of an organization employing these activities.

Next week, Pat Donohoe from the SEI will present the Software Product Line Framework.