Evolving the Product Development Process

The author hereby grants to MIT permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis document in wholefr in part /1/ JUL 1 8 ROZ LIBRARIES Acknowledgements First, and foremost, I would like to thank my advisors, Diane Burton and Jim Hines. Thank you for your inspired guidance and the interest you took in my work. I was fortunate enough to work with two people whose open mindedness and enthusiasm made this project a great learning experience on many levels. A special word of thanks must go to my employer, Marthinus van Schoor. Two years ago you encouraged me to do this. It has been tough to coordinate this course, work and family, but your understanding, and willingness to give up company time, has helped make it possible. I appreciate it. During my time in the SDM program I have made some lifelong friends. Steve Frey and Pete Zelten, your encouragement, moral support, insight and experience over the past two years have been invaluable. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to know you and to work with you. To the rest of the SDM class, I have thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent together and have learned a great deal from a great group of people. Finally, I would like to thank my family. Although far away, my parents, brother and sisters have always been supportive and encouraging. However, my wife and daughters have had the most patience and have shown the most understanding of all. This degree has taken much time that would otherwise have been devoted to them. Silia, Francesca and Daniela, I dedicate this thesis to you, because I could not have done it without your support and encouragement. 3 Nomenclature dM Rate of mistake discovery (tasks/month) dW Rate of doing work (tasks/month) dW. Rate of making mistakes (tasks/month) dWr Rate of doing work right (tasks/month) Fa Aggregate performance measure or fitness (dimensionless) f. Normalized fraction of remaining mistakes (dimensionless) F, Process performance parameter or fitness (dimensionless) Fpp Function for evaluation of process performance (dimensionless) f, Organizational size fraction (dimensionless) F, Schedule performance parameter or fitness (dimensionless) Fsp Function for evaluation of schedule performance (dimensionless) f, Fraction of workforce dedicated to testing (dimensionless) F,; Policy of teamj (dimensionless) fi Policy of member i of teamj (dimensionless) f, Fraction of remaining work to do (dimensionless) fwd Fraction of work apparently done …