A Plea for Help with Variability, in Two Acts

A short theatrical exaggeration (but not too much) which describes practical problems with variability as experienced by real-world software developers. Real issue, there are no practicable schemes, mechanisms, methods, or tools available which support software developers and allow reasoning about variability seamlessly, throughout the entire system life-cycle. Act 1 (The boardroom of Spacely Sprockets, Inc. The Board of Directors (including Dr. Spacely the chairman) sit imposingly at one end of a long, curved table fashioned from a glass counter and tapered steel legs. George J, manager of the Farkle proposal and Spanky M, George's chief technical adviser, sit, uncomfortably, at the other end of the table. ) DR. SPACELY I just received word from the government that we lost the Farkle contract. Everybody in this room assured me that we had that work locked in. Our proposal was technically acceptable but Cogswell Cogs underbid us by almost 50%. I don’t need to remind you how cru...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: VAMOS
• Authors: Reed Little, Randy Blohm
• Keywords: Farkle, Farkle Contract, Framis Product Line, VAMOS 2007