  This document details the planning phase of a Systematic Mapping Study (SMS).
Our goal is to identify the software patterns used during the RE phase, in
real-world setting (i.e., in real projects), not in academia (toy projects)
and, to understand the impact of their application, in terms of different
characteristics, pertaining to the development process as well as the final
product. Through a review of the literature published until January 2017, we
will investigate what the research community has reported on the application of
patterns in the industrial context, the data supporting these claims, the
specific patterns employed, the RE activities, the results (positive or
negative) and the metrics used to validate these results.
