The Principles of Integrated Product Development

Better customer relationships, frequent communication, and feedback systems lead to better understanding the customer's/user's needs. Customer involvement increases the probability of the product meeting those needs and being successful in the market. Methodologies such as Quality Function Deployment aid in defining customer needs and translating those needs into specific product, process and quality requirements. Once customer requirements are defined, track and tightly manage those requirements and minimize creeping elegance that will stretch out development.