Quick-Build Products

For the development of some products, such as software and many electronics products, building and testing prototype models has become such a rapid process that the design-build-test cycle can be repeated many times. In fact, teams can take advantage of rapid iteration to achieve a more flexible and responsive product development process, sometimes called a spiral product development process. Following concept development in this process, the system-level design phase entails decomposition of the product into high-, medium-, and low-priority features. This is followed by several cycles of design, build, integrate, and test activities, beginning with the highest-priority items. This process takes advantage of the fast prototyping cycle by using the result of each cycle to learn how to modify the priorities for the next cycle. Customers may even be involved in the testing process after one or more cycles. When time or budget runs out, usually all of the high- and medium-priority features have been incorporated into the evolving product, and the low-priority features may be omitted until the next product generation.
References and Bibliography
Many current resources are available on the Internet via www.ulrich-eppinger.net
Stage-gate product development processes have been dominant in manufacturing firms for the past 30 years. Cooper describes the modem stage-gate process and many of its enabling practices.
Cooper, Robert G., Winning at New Products: Accelerating the Process from Idea to Launch, third edition, Perseus Books, Cambridge, MA, 2001.