DEFINITION
Time-to-market, performance, cost and reliability are considered, prioritized, and balanced in an effective, data-driven decision-making process.

SITUATION
Current program design reviews are informal affairs and only productive if key individuals are well prepared and present.

OBJECTIVES
To guide the design team to quickly identify key design issues and to capture fundamental lessons learned and significant improvements to incorporate into the design.

VALUE TO YOUR ORGANIZATION
Gain maximum benefit for investment in a careful technical review focusing team decisions on salient issues.

RELIABILITY INTEGRATION
An example of Reliability Integration during Design Reviews is as follows:

Design Reviews Tie the Reliability Program Together
Building on or leading into FMEA, predictions and HALT, design reviews tie the reliability program together and balance product design constraints.

METHODOLOGY
Grounded in the available information and reliability risks, set expectations for the review with the team of reviewers. Prepare the data, drawings, prototypes for review and decisions. Facilitate the meeting to focus the team's attention on the most important areas of review first, while driving toward decisions. Encourage team to always "speak with data" during the technical review.

CASE STUDIES/OPTIONS
The following case studies and options provide example approaches. We shall tailor our approach to meet your specific situation.

1) Design Review
For a high volume Consumer Electromechanical product, we helped the design team of the main circuit board prepare for the initial design review. Major decisions included the feature sets to include, form factor and expected reliability constraints. In preparation for the review, the designer had a plan of record, plus three areas that needed specific decisions. The preparation included mock layouts of the options, drawings of form factor, and reliability predictions. After short discussions on the trade-offs involved, the team weighed all of the choices and made a data-driven decision.

2) Retrospective Facilitation
After helping a Telecommunications company through their development and testing cycle, it was time to look back and capture the lessons learned during the project. We assumed the role of facilitator and coach. In preparation, the team leader prepared an agenda and objectives for the meeting. With the invitation to the team, each team member received a set of instructions on how to prepare for the meeting. Key input collected prior to the meeting helped tailor the agenda. Our facilitation promoted the discussion, prioritization and development of action items to systematically improve the product development process.

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