The Cost of Missing Requirements
BioLite Inc - 2018
Introducing a Startup to Documentation
THE PROBLEM
-
Unexpected issues found after mass production, to the point of voluntary recall
-
Irreversible engineering decisions that contradicted design intent
-
Marketing promises rolled back due to performance misses
THE SOLUTION
-
I introduced, prototyped, and refined a process and suite of documents to capture real product requirements at each stage of development
-
I consulted with each development team, from Marketing to Quality, to identify gaps and pain-points in cross-departmental communication
-
I facilitated alignment meetings and established the company’s first Marketing Requirements Documents (MRD), Product Requirements Documents (PRD), UI Specifications, Test Pass/Fail Criteria, and collaborated with Quality on a Design Failure Methods and Effects Analysis (DFMEA) process
THE CLUES
-
Technically infeasible marketing claims
-
Finger-pointing and misalignment regarding design trade-offs
-
No clear Pass/Fail criteria for testing
THE AFTERMATH
-
Faster decision-making and fewer meetings; real-world rationale tied to each requirement created a shared understanding of the design intent, regardless of technical details
-
Issues and misalignments were caught before engineering even started, speeding up development, improving quality, and increasing customer satisfaction
-
The origin of any issue could be accurately pinpointed and lessons-learned were easily copied over to future products, compounding the benefits over time
Tools: Google Workspace, Excel, Asana, Jira, Zoom, KiCAD, Solidworks
Techniques: Product Management, Program Management, Document Revision, Cross-departmental Communication, Discussion Moderation and Preparation, Stakeholder Presentations, Systems Analysis, Failure Analysis, Mechanical and Electrical Inspection