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This paper presents some initial results from a twelve-month empirical research study of model driven engineering (MDE). Using largely qualitative questionnaire and interview methods we investigate and document a range of technical, organizational and social factors that apparently influence organizational responses to MDE: specifically, its perception as a successful or unsuccessful organizational intervention. We then outline a range of lessons learned. Whilst, as with all qualitative research, these lessons should be interpreted with care, they should also be seen as providing a greater understanding of MDE practice in industry, as well as shedding light on the varied, and occasionally surprising, social, technical and organizational factors that affect success and failure. We conclude by suggesting how the next phase of the research will attempt to investigate some of these issues from a different angle and in greater depth.

Despite lively debate over the last decade on the benefits or drawbacks of model-driven engineering (MDE), there have been very few industry-wide studies of MDE in practice. We present a new study, covering a broad range of experiences and ways of applying MDE: we surveyed 450 MDE practitioners and carried out in-depth interviews with 22 more. Findings suggest that MDE may be more widespread than commonly believed, but developers rarely use it to generate whole systems; rather, they apply it to develop key parts of a system often using domain-specific modeling languages developed specifically for the purpose. Our findings also suggest reasons why some efforts to adopt MDE fail and some succeed. As is usually the case in software engineering, adoption largely depends on social and organizational factors, some of which we describe in this paper.

In this paper, we attempt to address the relative absence of empirical studies of model driven engineering through describing the practices of three commercial organizations as they adopted a model driven engineering approach to their software development. Using in-depth semi-structured interviewing we invited practitioners to reflect on their experiences and selected three to use as exemplars or case studies. In documenting some details of attempts to deploy model driven practices, we identify some 'lessons learned', in particular the importance of complex organizational, managerial and social factors -as opposed to simple technical factors -in the relative success, or failure, of the endeavour. As an example of organizational change management the successful deployment of model driven engineering appears to require: a progressive and iterative approach; transparent organizational commitment and motivation; integration with existing organizational processes and a clear business focus.