Symptom: The product line is not well integrated, limiting value and increasing clients' costs of support and upgrading.
A well-integrated product line is beneficial to clients in a number of ways. It adds value by helping clients use a variety of tools on a project. It also adds value by helping various clients collaborate with each other. A well-integrated product line also reduces a clients costs of support, and makes it easier to upgrade to newer and more powerful products when needed.
The integration of a product line depends on standards, not a master plan. An organization can never know enough about its future to plan in advance every possible product. Product design standards allow product developers to solve clients' unique problems as they arise, and yet still evolve toward an integrated product line.
If clients are forced to choose between tailoring a product to their needs and integration, solving their unique business problems with a tailored solution usually wins. But forcing clients to make such a trade-off antagonizes them.
Another (more generic) way to state the problem is as follows:
