TABLE OF CONTENTS We have discussed, in the earlier chapters, methods for performing requirements analysis and specification generation on a program. In this part we seek to develop the tools to allow us to plan and manage the many tasks needed to make this effort successful. Our approach focuses on using integrated product and process teams (IPPT) in an application of the concurrent engineering approach, with the teams staffed from the functional departments of a matrix organization. It is possible to organize in other ways, but in my view, those other ways are not as effective where the enterprise is large and the problems it solves for its several customers are complex. The functional organization provides the resource base programs need in the form of people who know what they are doing in fields related to the enterprise product line, good tools, and good practices built around a common process for all programs, with the programs providing a customer focus for the current business.
We begin with a brief discussion of the total quality management (TQM) concept that passed through industry consciousness in the early 1990s. TQM offers us a way to work toward perfecting our process, no matter how bad our current process may be. Then, we...
