Controlling Iteration in Product Development Processes

Abstract

Iteration is a dominant though unwelcome feature of product development. Controlling this iteration can reduce the time needed to complete product development projects. Management must decide how long each project should spend in a design stage before it undergoes a design review (or test). This paper presents a model of iteration that can be used to make this decision. The paper considers the single-project case and two scenarios in which multiple projects require a common reviewer. These results give some insight into how managers should control iteration to improve their product development processes.