🗒️[Glossary] Product line and Product Line Engineering (PLE)

Product Line refers to a group of related products that share common features, components, or technologies and are developed to meet the needs of a specific market segment or customer base. These products typically vary in terms of specific configurations or capabilities but are built upon a shared foundation.

Product Line Engineering (PLE) is a systematic approach to managing the creation, development, and maintenance of a product line. It focuses on leveraging shared assets, processes, and technologies to efficiently produce a range of related products while reducing costs, improving quality, and accelerating time-to-market.

Key concepts of Product Line Engineering

• Shared Assets: PLE relies on reusable assets such as software code, hardware components, requirements, and test cases. These assets form the backbone of the product line.
  

• Variability Management: A core aspect of PLE is managing the differences and commonalities among products in the line. This is achieved through techniques like feature modeling and configuration management.
  
  Note: PLE uses the term "variability management" instead of "variant management". While there probably are differences in practical usage of both terms, they share the same basic key concepts.
  

• Lifecycle Integration: PLE spans the entire product lifecycle, from concept and design to production, deployment, and maintenance.

Standards and Frameworks

Product Line Engineering is supported by several industry standards and frameworks that provide guidance and best practices:

• ISO/IEC 26550:2015 – Software and Systems Engineering – Reference Model for Product Line Engineering and Management: This standard defines a reference model for PLE, including processes, roles, and activities.
  

• ISO/IEC 26551:2016 – Methods and Tools for Product Line Engineering: This standard focuses on the tools and techniques used to implement PLE, including variability modeling and asset management.