Design-related reuse problems-an experience report

This paper reports on a research project within the Daimler-Benz group that identified problems in an existing very large software asset that hampered a successful reuse of components. After a general view on reuse-related problems, the focus of the paper is set on problems in this software asset. It presents an architectural analysis as an approach for the identification of these problems. A set of problem types and corresponding solutions are described. The bad rules that cause these problems are identified and a set of good rules are recommended to overcome such problems. Finally, experiences with the current tool support are roughly outlined and an introduction to Esprit´s Project Famoos, that works on improved tool support, is given