Share Early Share Often

I particularly appreciated the example [in MaryPoppendieck's latest draft] of the "Triple-7" (Boeing 777) program. I worked at Boeing at the time, although not on the 777. They had another mantra that I remember better than the test early, fail fast, and that was "Share early, share often." The idea was to convince engineers to share their design models early, rather than keep them to themselves until they were ready for release. That way potential conflicts, such as the hydraulics engineer and wiring engineer both wanting to go through the same space in that critical structural bulkhead, could be resolved early.

I think this share early, is analogous to continuous integration. As a result of this effort, the 777 was the first airplane Boeing built without first building a physical mockup, which saved money and more important, flow time.

--JohnAhrens?, Sr. Software Engineer

 TeleCommunication? Systems, Inc.
 http://www.telecomsys.com


Related: EarlyAndOften


EditText of this page (last edited March 13, 2006) or FindPage with title or text search