Libra: Learning and Inquiry-Based Reuse Adoption, 1st edition
Authors: Sidney C. Bailin, Larry Levine, Mark Simos
Venue:  (2000)

From the Book:If software reuse is such a good idea, why does it not occur more often? With all the work over the past 20 years in software reusabilitymodularity, information hid-ing, object orientation, domain modeling, component-based developmentand all the work on costbenefit models, why is software reuse still more an idea than a re-ality? In this book we offer some answers and recommendations, drawing on ideas about learning organizations and knowledge-creating companies. The book began life as a document funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as part of its program in Software Technology for Adaptable, Reliable Software (STARS). The STARS program pursued a tripartite strategy comprising software reuse, process-driven development, and software de-velopment environments. As part of the reuse initiative, in 1995 the authors were chartered to write a reuse planning guidebook. Not typically for such tasks, we were allowed considerable latitude in deciding the best approach. We decided a new approach was needed, one that would augment the guidance already available by focusing on issues such as beliefs about reuse, organizational dynamics, and recep-tivity and resistance. The authors brought varied backgrounds to the project. First and foremost we drew on our own and others experiences in promoting reuse as developers in con-tractor and commercial software organizations, in contract research and develop-ment, and as external consultants. We had the benefit of a coauthor (Larry Levine) with considerable experience in organizational development, organizational learn-ing, and change management. Exploring and unifying these viewpoints, we came to see software reuse as one aspect of the broader problem of organizational learning and knowledge creation in a software shop. This insight led us to rethink many as-sumptions about reuse adoption and its breakdowns, and the beliefs and practices of reuse advocates. The resulting approachLearning and Inquiry-Based Reuse Adoption, or LIBRAwas a radical departure from top-down, broad-based approaches. Initial response from our colleagues was encouraging. Readers said the document helped to surface difficult issues that had troubled them for some time, which they had as-sumed were specific to their situation. In our subsequent research and consulting, we applied and field-tested various versions of LIBRA. While it is not a formal, sci-entifically validated methodology, our recent work has reinforced its pragmatic value. In revising the guidebook for commercial publication we have expanded, up-dated, and reorganized all the material. We focused the emphasis to complement rather than overlap other approaches. We view the book as a basis for experimenta-tion, and a first step in a dialogue within and between the software reuse and organi-zational learning communities. We see our contribution as threefold: As theory, it advances a new view of software reuse as a form of organiza-tional learning. The example content of the book illustrates this view. It captures the authors distillation of the experience of the software engineering communityfil-tered through our subjective perspective. This is both a key value and a limi-tation of the book. We owe the validity of our insights to the wisdom of the reuse community as a whole, and we apologize in advance for any failure to attribute specific ideas to the appropriate individuals. At the same time, any distortions, inaccuracies, or omissions are the responsibility of the authors. Finally, the book offers a repertoire of techniques so that readers can generate data for their own organizations. Although we provide guidance and sugges-tions for readers who want to try the techniques, we do not represent LIBRA as an established and scientifically validated methodology.