Engineering Quality while Embracing Change: Lessons Learned

Abstract

In an increasingly complex technical environment, failure is accepted as a way of maximizing potential, a way of growing up. Experience can be utilized to improve designs, advance product maturity, and at the same time, can increase team's training and education. It is not enough to understand the development tools to ensure a project's success. Understanding how to plan, measure, communicate, interact, and work in teams is mandatory to make a project successful. A manager cannot enforce a process of good communication between team members. Project teams have to work together in supporting each other and establish a constant communication environment. This paper presents lessons learned during the development process of operations research software. The team members have matured and learned during the process to plan successfully, adapt to changes, use Agile methodologies, and embrace a new attitude towards failures and communication.