Requirements for adopting software process lines

•Identifying the characteristics important in method tailoring.•Validating the tailoring characteristics from an industrial perspective.•Identifying a set of requirements for adopting software process line approaches. A Software Process Line (SPrL) is potentially suitable for constructing software development methodologies by reusing core assets. However, adopting this approach without prior assessment of its suitability can lead to failure. The aim of this paper is to identify a set of requirements that can be used for deciding whether to adopt the SPrL approach in an organization. Identification of the requirements was accomplished in two stages: the characteristics important in method tailoring were first identified via a Systematic Mapping Study (SMS) that focused on analyzing 43 primary studies; the degree of importance of the identified characteristics was then determined using a questionnaire survey in which 31 experts participated. By analyzing the results of the SMS and the survey, we have identified 12 product-related, 22 project-related, and 10 organization-related requirements. In addition to these requirements, we have also identified two relevant requirements by studying previous research on Software Product Lines (SPL) and Business Process Lines (BPL). The requirements thus identified can help organizations decide on whether to adopt the SPrL approach: the more an organization satisfies the requirements, the more frequently method tailoring occurs in that organization, and hence, the more justified it is to adopt the SPrL approach.