A Model for Platform Development?

For many software and firmware products today, creating the entire architecture and design and all the software modules from the ground up is no longer feasible, especially from the point of view of product quality, ease of implementation, and short product development schedules. Therefore, the trend is to create new product versions by intentionally reusing the architecture, design, and code from an established software platform.
HP’s software initiative program has been working in partnership with product development organizations in Hewlett-Packard for almost five years. Its goal is to help take software and firmware development off the critical path of new product introductions and transform HP’s software and firmware development capability into a competitive advantage. Through our work we have observed and participated in the application of many different strategies, all aimed at raising an R&D team’s collective ability to build software and firmware that meets the overall market requirements, including functionality, usability, reliability, performance, supportability, and time-to-market goals. Several patterns have emerged that many HP organizations are successfully using to elevate their software and firmware development capability. One pattern corresponds to a set of operational practices that we call the platform development paradigm. The software initiative program has created a conceptual model for platform development (see Fig. 1) which builds upon HP’s product development experience and integrates many of HP’s best practices in software development. The individual elements of the model are closely tied to the technical and management systems used in the company and have been validated through actual team experiences in developing new products. Since the platform development model is conceptual, it is used as a framework for determining the elements that an organization needs to invest in to attain a competency in platform development. The software initiative program works with product development organizations to identify the areas of the model that are applicable to a given organization’s situation and works with the organization to customize the model accordingly. The resulting instantiation of the model yields processes tuned to the specific needs and requirements of the particular development organization, leading to a new level of development capability. Organizations within HP that have established a competency in platform development have

significantly reduced their time to market, improved operational efficiency, and become more responsive to the needs of their customers. These gains are accompanied by improved business results. The following are brief descriptions of the elements of the platform development model shown in Fig. 1. Product Portfolio Planning. This element defines the strategic relationship between the platform and all product versions to be released over a multiyear period. It identifies the key business drivers and sets the overall goals, direction, priorities, and parameters of the platform strategy. Architecture. This group of elements includes: Architectural definition and partitioning of the major functional and technology subsystems. Product feature mapping, which identifies appropriate subsystems and component modules used in the implementation of each feature (i.e., translation of customer needs to product features to specific platform or product modules) Test architecture and strategy, which define the overall structure and methods for verification and validation to ensure necessary quality levels in the final product. Platform Management. This group of elements includes: Organizational structure and work partitioning, which defines the organization’s operating model at an abstract level (e.g., reporting relationships and team organization) Partnership model and contract, which provides the generic framework for instantiating the operating model between platform and product teams (e.g., interdependence between teams and expectations for their working relationships) Management processes and steering teams, which define how the product portfolio plan is created and how its execution is managed Communication and feedback model, which defines the timing and content of the information that flows between teams. Development. This group of elements includes: Platform and product life cycles, which define the major phases, with goals, activities, and deliverables for both the platform and products Development model and process, which specify the processes followed for the creation and enhancement of a module through its integration into the final product Delivery model, which defines how platform components and subsystems are delivered for use within products Validation and test processes, which define the specific quality criteria and test procedures used throughout the product and platform life cycles Development tools and infrastructure, which provide a common development environment and processes for platform and product work (e.g., procedures and tools for creating, storing, finding, building, and testing components). Support Model. This element defines the mechanics and logistics of how individuals and teams get help when using platform components. Metrics and Measurement Processes. This element defines the means by which progress and results for each of the other elements are monitored to ensure achievement of business goals. Values and Reward System. This element integrates and aligns the organization’s values and culture with its performance evaluation and reward mechanisms to support the other elements of the model and thereby achieve platform, product, and business goals. The remainder of this article describes the key elements of the model in greater detail, including the deployment and use of the elements, anecdotes about their implementation, and finally, HP’s experiences with the model. The use of the word “software” throughout this article refers to both software and firmware.