electronic product development: the never- ending journey lloyd alan fletcher information systems...

Electronic product development: the never-ending journey

Lloyd Alan FletcherInformation Systems ManagerInstitute of Physics PublishingUKSG SeminarBristol, 29th January 2003

lloyd.fletcher@iop.org, www.iop.org

Why is development continuous? Driven by business (and therefore customer)

need Managed to deliver business (and thereby

customer) benefits

Product delivery is not the end of the story Nurturing vs. maintenance Success brings more success Business and customer demand for new

products, features, functionality and performance

Rapid technology change An ever growing portfolio of products

The software development process Requirements analysis...

… what does the business/customer actually need?

Functional and system design…… what do we build to meet that need?

Project management…… how do we ensure we build it on time and within budget?

Implementation (coding)…… actually building it

Quality assurance…… making sure we build the right thing

Approach and philosophy IT and business must collaborate Agility: responding to the rapidly changing

business and customer environment Risk management is success management User centred design, customer involvement Minimize the total cost of ownership Maximize the business benefit Tailor approach to size, complexity “Think time” pays off 10 or 100-fold Rational business decision-making, planning

We can’t do it all, so how do we decide?

Demand for development

“Priority Filter”

Actual development

plan

Business Customer

Quick fix Long term solutionStrategic Tactical

Product planCost

EmergencyBenefit

Political Valuable customer

Maintenance New developmentTechnologyResource availability

A typical (simplified) project process

New business idea

Business requirements

Outline specification

Costed business case

Design & buildTest & release

Support & nurture

Some elements of design & build User centred tools, e.g., focus groups,

prototyping, storyboarding, scenarios Analysis & design tools Modular build for rapid delivery Quality assurance tools: design reviews,

code reviews, risk-based testing Project management is risk management Review against business goals and release Continuous feedback

In conclusion The product development process never

ends It can be complex and demanding Demand for work always exceeds supply It’s only worthwhile if it adds value to

business and customers

lloyd.fletcher@iop.org