PRODUCT ENGINEERING |

Posts Tagged ‘PRODUCT ENGINEERING’

Engineering application software is pretty complex after all!

June 13, 2011 |

Author admin

Toyota recalled approximately 133,000 2010 Prius and 14,500 Lexus vehicles in the U.S. recently to update software in the vehicle’s antilock brake system (ABS) because of uneven braking. This recall was necessary for the issue would harm those in the car should it occur.

The weak link in a car’s software is not a virus or ill-behaved third party application, but the computer code and how it responds, or fails to respond, to unforeseen conditions. The computer running the software is designed to do just one thing, and is not a buggy device. This example illustrates how critical software is, for it not only results in lost profits and lost brand loyalty, but potentially lost lives.

Product Engineering – Aligning customer needs

November 17, 2009 |

Author admin

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Whenever we engage with the customer, the most critical aspect will be to align our knowledge with the customer needs. This is especially true and complex, when you are talking about outsourced product development, as we ought to align our knowledge with our customer’s customer needs.

In my mind, product engineering is a domain and expertise by itself as the skills required to build a product are far different from the skills required to build an application. Product is never custom-built for a particular customer; rather it is generic and requires better skills to ensure that the code base is scalable, robust and configurable. Essentially, architecting a product is much different compared to architecting an application.

The Significance of Time, Budget and Scope in Product Development

July 15, 2009 |

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Recognition of time, budget and scope as the three variables in product development is of paramount importance. At the outset, it is essential to have two of the variables fixed, otherwise we will never get the product out. Whenever someone says, they can launch a product on time, on budget, and on scope, take it with a bucketful of salt. It almost never happens and when it does, quality often suffers.

Ideally, which are the two variables that one should keep fixed? If you’re a product company, it necessarily has to be time and budget, for one should never throw more time or money at a problem. Additionally, during your product engineering phase itself, your product marketing would have gone to the market in promoting it and it doesn’t make sense to miss the timelines.