Wednesday 3 October 2007

Software factory

Reuse of people,process and technology

A software factory is an approach to build applications with more or less the same structural characteristics through the use of more or less fixed combination of skilled people on the various topics within software development, processes and technology. So you say that software factories is a form of reuse. Not only "code", but also processes and people.

With a high degree of “industrialization”, it is seeking the maximum efficiency & productivity through:
  • Processes Standardization for project management and software development
  • Re-utilization & use of frameworks
  • Automation & tools
  • Skilled professionals
With these strategies it wants to reduce the development cycles (“Time to Market”) and the total cost of the project while keeping a high degree of quality for the complete cycle.
So if you have lot applications that share same structural characteristics such the development language, code organisation, and usage of third party libraries you can think about creating such a generic software Creation platform. I will be reused for all the concerned applications. More over you will be encouraged to let your future application share as much characteristics as possible. The more standardized to more benefit you’ll gain from re-use.

Usually Software factories are organized around a broad technology platform like .NET, JAVA, or SAP


Factory metaphor limitations


As with all metaphors you must not drive them to far else you’ll end up creating false expectations. Creating software is not the same as making cars or radios where predefined parts are assembled together while moving from one point in the factory to another until they are completed, checked and shipped. Software is not a mass-production item. It is not even tangible. More over, software is never finished. It build adjusted, expanded, reshaped throughout it life-time. Even during “assembly” the shape of the “product” is completely written in stone.

Microsoft definition of Software factories


Microsoft also uses the term software factories but it is not used to describe the assembly-line idea. They use it to name several Development accelerators packages. It frees the developer of creating something from scratch. The packages are materialized in the form of Visual Studio wizards, templates, project structures, components, frameworks but also best practices in the form of white papers.
De developer working with such a software factory in Visual studio will see the structure of the project so that the developer knows exactly which things to complete; which deliverables he has to work on; which are fixed for him, because they represent the architecture of that application.
So this definition does not emphasis on people and processes that much but rather on automation (technology).

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