This position paper weighs the benefits against the problems of using a graph rewrite system for the formal specification of an integrated software engineering model and for its implementation using the same graph rewrite system. The integrated software engineering approach, called GRIDS¹, has been motivated by the shortcomings of software engineering support for real-life software projects. It is based on the formal integration of software engineering aspects for the automatic construction and well-defined manipulation of situational project frameworks. GRIDS uses the graph rewrite system PROGRES for the formal specification of the concepts and for their prototypical implementation. Without claiming to cover the entire field of graph rewrite systems, the experiences of this particular, graph-based approach are used as example for a discussion about the adequacy, the benefits, but also the shortcomings and the problems of applying a graph rewrite approach to realize automated software and method engineering support.