In 1999, Rational Software and the DSDM Consortium collaborated to produce a RUP/DSDM interoperability paper (see "DSDM and the Rational Unified Process"). Much of that paper remains relevant when considering using DSDM with OpenUP. The following excerpt is particularly appropriate.

To quote the DSDM Manual,
“DSDM is more a framework than a method. It does not say how things should be done in detail, but provides a skeleton process and product descriptions that are to be tailored to suit a particular project or a particular organisation”.

In this sense, OpenUP complements DSDM by providing detailed guidance for the technical aspects of software development.

Further, the paper notes that

"It was suggested in an early meeting of the team that DSDM was a paradigm – you can approach software development with a DSDM frame of mind, almost regardless of the process...If you are a RUP user and need to adopt a business-centred RAD approach then DSDM will provide many useful techniques...In an ideal world it would be nice to have all these techniques defined in a shopping basket or tool kit from which you could pick the appropriate techniques regardless of the process being utilised." (original emphasis)

The Eclipse Process Framework in general - and Method Composer in particular - provide such a tool kit.

OpenUP/Basic defines a process that is minimal and complete from a technical team perspective. DSDM, like many Agile methods, promotes active user involvement on a project. OpenUP provides for this with a minimalistic definition of the Stakeholder role. The DSDM Plugin for OpenUP extends this Stakeholder role by adding four business roles and assigns them specific responsibilities for key aspects of the project. These roles are;

• Executive Sponsor
• Visionary
• Ambassador User
• Advisor User

These roles are applied to OpenUP in a complementary fashion. For simplicity, the DSDM roles have been applied to existing Tasks and Products - no new tasks or products have been introduced to OpenUP in this plugin.

The addition of these roles to OpenUP promotes an  explicitly collaborative approach , where software development responsibility is shared by the business and technical communities. It is the experience of DSDM practitioners and the wider Agile community that this significantly enhances the potential for a successful project.