High initial costs and a slow return on investment can make software reuse a tough sell. The author chronicles the ups and downs of implementing software reuse in a corporation that, despite its bottom-up, grass-roots culture, enlisted top management's intervention to proceed. Based on experience, she recommends that any group trying to implement reuse should first get support from top management and provide reuse training for engineers; second, provide incentives to support the program until reuse becomes part of the culture; and third, provide tools to help engineers.
