Understanding the dynamics of product software development using the concept of coevolution

The context in which software is developed determines its evolution. Specifically for software developed as a product by startups, the uncertainty of market, platform and team not only determine the evolution of the product, but also of the process. During the lifecycle of the product the organization changes and different product improvement and process improvement patterns can be observed. With this in mind the Abernathy and Utterback dynamic innovation model proves to be an applicable view for the evolution of product software and its process. In this paper we introduce this theoretical model as a basis for further research in the co-evolution of product software development. Based on an anecdotal case study of a software-as-a-service product an example of the co-evolution of process and product in the software product industry is provided