Adopting a software product line engineering approach in industrial development contexts: A protocol for a systematic literature review

TL;DR

This paper presents a detailed protocol for a systematic literature review on the adoption of software product line engineering in industrial settings, aiming to analyze its benefits and challenges compared to academic experiences.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive, predefined protocol for conducting a systematic literature review on SPLE adoption in industrial contexts, ensuring unbiased and valid results.

Findings

Defines a structured protocol for the review process

Aims to identify benefits and drawbacks of SPLE in industry

Contrasts industrial experiences with academic reports

Abstract

The value of a systematic secondary study (a systematic mapping study (SMS) or a systematic literature review (SLR)) comes, directly, from its systematic nature. The formal, well-defined, objective and unbiased process guarantees that the results from these systematically conducted studies are valid. This process is embodied in an action protocol, which must be agreed upon by all the researchers before conducting the secondary study. The protocol is, therefore, a detailed action plan, which contains all the tasks and the ordered sequence of steps to be executed. This document details that protocol for a SLR on the adoption of the software product line engineering (SPLE) approach in industrial development contexts. The goal of that SLR is to identify and analyse the benefits and drawbacks that this adoption has had in industrial development contexts, in contrast to the experiences reported in academic environments.