A reference framework for software product management

Abstract

In the last decade, software product management has received much practical attention, though research in this area is still scattered. In this paper, we give a status overview of the current software product management domain by performing a literature study and field studies with product managers. The results are used to develop a reference framework for software product management, in which the key process areas, stakeholders and their relations are modeled. To validate the reference framework, we perform a case study in which we analyze the stakeholder communication concerning the conception, development and launching of a new product at a major software vendor. Finally, we propose the Software Product Management Workbench for operational support for product managers in product software companies.