Software reuse experience at Hewlett-Packard

At Hewlett-Packard, we have had visible divisional software reuse efforts since the mid-1980s. In 1990, we initiated a multi-faceted corporate reuse program to gather information about reuse from within HP and from other companies. As we studied the existing reuse programs, we discovered that certain issues were poorly understood, and as a consequence, mistakes were made in starting and running certain programs at HP and elsewhere. Our corporate reuse program focused on packaging best-practice information and guidelines to avoid common pitfalls. We also developed technology transfer and educational processes to spread this information and enhance reuse practice within the company. In 1992, we launched a multi-disciplinary research program to investigate and develop better methods for domain-specific, reuse-based software engineering. We have learned that for large-scale reuse to work, the problems to be overcome are mostly non-technical.<>