The following benefits have been reported by organisations that have built Software Product Lines:

Productivity gains of 500% have been quoted; no other approach has this potential and this is usually the most compelling reason for an organisation to switch to Software Product Line development.

Improved product quality through reuse. Quality improvement efforts on core assets propagate to all products that use those assets.

Faster time-to-market can make the difference between dominating a segment and being shut out.

Mass customisation offers support for large numbers of product variants at least in the 100s. The ability to support more products means that you can dominate a market segment by matching your software to each customer’s needs.

Finally, one common trigger is that the organisation realises that something has to change if it is to continue to be successful.

Read about pure::variants, a tool for developing Software Product Lines.

Find out more about what types of organisation have adopted Software Product Lines.