Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering IESE
Seminar: Systems and Software Product Line Engineering
Master variability and variants. Scale reuse. Accelerate time-to-market.
Variants are multiplying, teams are stretched thin, roadmaps are getting tighter - and a single-project mindset no longer scales.
In this hands-on seminar, you’ll learn how to develop a systematically planned product line from a multitude of products: using feature and variability strategies, modular architecture, and reusable requirements, code assets, and tests.
With our AI assistant PLEon, you can apply these methods directly to your specific use case - ensuring that PLE doesn’t remain abstract, but becomes something you can actually implement.
Information and details about the seminar
More variants. Fewer skilled workers. Greater pressure.
In many organizations, the variety of variants is growing faster than engineering capacity. New features are added, customer customizations increase, and existing architectures become more complex, while experienced skilled workers remain in short supply.
Without a systematic product line strategy, the following result:
- redundant implementations
- rising maintenance and integration costs
- a testing explosion due to variant combinations
- increasing architectural erosion
- decreasing predictability of roadmaps
Systems and Software Product Line Engineering is the lever for structured, predictable, and scalable development under these conditions.
Tabbed contents
Why this seminar
This seminar provides a proven approach to:
- Strategically planning for variability and variations rather than managing them reactively
- Develop a targeted reuse strategy
- Align requirements, architecture, implementation, and testing consistently
- Improving both efficiency and quality
You will receive methods, decision-making guidelines, and concrete implementation models tailored to the realities of industrial development organizations.
The Benefits for You
After the seminar, you will be able to:
- Systematically analyze drivers of variation and complexity
- assess when a product line strategy is economically viable
- Structured Development of Feature and Variability Models
- Design modular product and platform architectures
- Plan and implement reusable artifacts (requirements, architecture, code, tests)
- Ensuring quality across product families
- develop a realistic implementation schedule
Target group
This seminar is designed for specialists and managers at the operational and tactical levels:
Architecture & Technology
- System Architects
- Software Architects
- Software Developers
- Lead Engineers
Requirements & Produktdefinition
- Requirements Engineers
- Product Managerr
- Portfolio-Manager
- Technical Product Owner
Quality & Assurance
- Quality Assurance Manager
- Test Manager
- Test architects
Organization & Platform
- Variant and Platform Managers
- Engineering Manager with operational responsibility
Suitable for beginners as well as experienced practitioners.
Learning Objectives
After the seminar, you will be able to systematically evaluate, structure, and implement Systems and Product Line Engineering within your company’s context.
You will be able to:
Strategic Classification & Evaluation
- Identify and analyze drivers of variation and complexity within your organization
- Assess the economic potential and risks of a product line strategy
- Clearly define the scope and vision of a product line
Feature- & Variabilitätsmanagement
- Structured Development of Feature and Variability Models
- Plan variation points proactively rather than letting them arise reactively
- Ensure consistency between portfolio decisions, requirements, and architecture
Architecture & Modularization
- Design modular product and platform architectures
- Cut reusable building blocks in such a way that variations remain manageable
- Planning for evolution and changes across product generations
Development & Reuse
- Systematically establish the reuse of requirements, design, code, and tests
- Avoid common anti-patterns (e.g., copy-paste variations, implicit dependencies)
- einen pragmatischen Einstieg in PLE in bestehende Strukturen integrieren
Quality Assurance & Testing
- Develop testing strategies for product families
- Making variant risks transparent
- Ensuring quality across feature combinations
Introduction & Organization
- Assess the organizational implications of implementing a PLE
- Define roles, responsibilities, and governance structures
- develop a realistic, phased implementation plan
AI-powered Practice Support: PLEon
In this seminar, we will demonstrate how these methods can be applied to specific product portfolios using the AI assistant PLEon:
- Analysis of variant structures
- Identification of opportunities for reuse
- Support for feature and modularization decisions
- Derivation of Implementation Steps
This makes PLE tangible and immediately applicable.
Speakers
Dr. Martin Becker heads the Embedded Systems Engineering (ESY) department at Fraunhofer IESE in Kaiserslautern. His core areas of expertise include strategic reuse with software and system product lines, variability management, and the structuring of modular reuse libraries. He has been teaching the course "Product Line Engineering" at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern for 10 years.
Other members of the ESY department.
Through numerous collaborative projects with industry partners across various application domains, they have focused in particular on the analysis, planning, and implementation of platforms and product lines in the field of software-intensive systems, and they bring this experience to their teaching. They also deliver numerous presentations and tutorials on this topic at conferences. They have published extensively in the fields of product line engineering, variability modeling, and architecture.
Registration
Click on the date that works for you to book the seminar!
02.09. - 03.09.2026, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
In-person seminar (+ 1 day online – date to be arranged with participants) Register now