A Technical History of the SEI

ArchE (Architecture Expert), 2003. This is a tool for moving from a set of quality attribute
scenarios to an architecture design that satisfies those scenarios [Bachmann 2003].
Attribute-Driven Design (ADD) Method, 2006. This is a method for designing the architecture
of a software-intensive system by basing the design process on the architecture’s quality
attribute requirements [Wojcik 2006].
SEI Architecture Technology User Network (SATURN) Workshops, 2006. The initial
workshops, held in Pittsburgh, later evolved into the SATURN Conference series, an international
forum for software architecture practitioners.
System ATAM, 2007. This variant of the ATAM addresses system architecture notions and
specifications, engineering considerations, quality attribute concerns, and architectural approaches.
Introduction of the Notion of Software Product Lines and Associated
Practices
There had long been the expectation in the software community that software could be reused,
and research and industry teams made various attempts to develop the mechanics for such a strategy,
with varying levels of success. Predominantly, strategic reuse capitalizes on commonality—
common features—and manages variation.
By the 1980s, diverse areas such as automobiles, aircraft, machine tools and, more recently, computer
hardware, were using the concept of a product line, but the idea of a software product line
was not common practice. The SEI was influenced to begin its formal investigation into software
product lines by a number of related SEI experiences and by DoD and commercial attempts to create
software product lines in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The reference architecture that the
SEI developed for the B-2 simulator was later applied to other simulators, providing an early example
of the potential for product lines. The SEI was also participating in the DARPA STARS
program, which was experimenting with the development of software product lines, and in the
AFSC/ESD PRISM project to experiment with the definition of a product line approach to the development
of command centers. There were also a number of commercial industry efforts to define
a software product line, most notably by CelsiusTech Systems AB.
The DARPA STARS program evolved from the effort that initially launched the SEI. The mission
of STARS was to “[p]rovide DoD the technological, management and transitional basis to influence
and enable a paradigm shift to a process-driven, domain-specific reuse based approach to
software intensive systems” (from standard presentations about the program). Product lines and a
development lifecycle that focused on commonality and variability were part of the global objective
of STARS. As part of the STARS program, domain-analysis techniques were defined, architecturally
oriented reuse library tools were developed, and three demonstration projects were initiated
with the military services to pilot the tools and techniques. Successful application of tools
and techniques in the Army and Air Force demonstration projects validated the efficacy of a product
line approach but identified challenges to widespread adoption.
In 1991, the effort at AFSC/ESD called PRISM was motivated by two surveys that determined
that 67 percent of Air Force-fielded command centers had functionally equivalent characteristics,
while 75 percent of those fielded command centers had similar operational requirements.
CMU/SEI-2016-SR-027 | SOFTWARE ENGINEERING INSTITUTE | CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY 236
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