A design review is a milestone within a
product development
In business and engineering, new product development (NPD) covers the complete process of bringing a new product to market, renewing an existing product or introducing a product in a new market. A central aspect of NPD is product design, along w ...
process whereby a
design
A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design' ...
is evaluated against its
requirements in order to verify the outcomes of previous activities and identify issues before committing to—and, if need be, to re-prioritise—further work. The ultimate design review, if successful, therefore triggers the product launch or product release.
The conduct of design reviews is compulsory as part of
design controls, when developing products in certain regulated contexts such as
medical devices
A medical device is any device intended to be used for medical purposes. Significant potential for hazards are inherent when using a device for medical purposes and thus medical devices must be proved safe and effective with reasonable assura ...
.
By definition, a review must include persons who are external to the design team.
Contents of a design review
In order to evaluate a
design
A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design' ...
against its requirements, a number of means may be considered, such as:
*Physical tests.
*Engineering simulations.
*Examinations (Walk-through).
Timing of design reviews
Most formalised
systems engineering process
Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design, integrate, and manage complex systems over their life cycles. At its core, systems engineering utilizes systems thinking ...
es recognise that the cost of correcting a fault increases as it progresses through the
development process. Additional effort spent in the early stages of development to discover and correct errors is therefore likely to be worthwhile. Design reviews are example of such an effort.
Therefore, a number of design reviews may be carried out, for example to evaluate the design against different sets of criteria (consistency,
usability, ease of
localisation, environmental) or during various stages of the design process.
See also
*
Design review (U.S. government)
In the United States military integrated acquisition lifecycle the Technical section has multiple acquisition "Technical Reviews". Technical reviews and audits assist the acquisition and the number and types are tailored to the acquisition. Over ...
*
Hazard and operability study A hazard and operability study (HAZOP) is a structured and systematic examination of a complex plan or operation in order to identify and evaluate problems that may represent risks to personnel or equipment. The intention of performing a HAZOP is to ...
References
Engineering concepts
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