Variability in Software Development Process Families

Summary: [This abstract is based on the editor's abstract.]

The need to achieve convergence of software development process throughout an organization often conflicts with the need to execute projects that differ in nature, scope, duration, and sophistication. The challenge is to tailor the process to accommodate these variants without sacrificing the benefits an institutionalized process brings. Simple but effective tactics for accommodating variability are outlined that are motivated through analogies with variability in a product family. While the author does not address the best documentation mechanism or technology, a sidebar describes the use of a word processor to hyperlink documents as an example of an unsophisticated technology that achieves the desired goal.