Adaptive Product Development Lifecycle™
Evolutionary or Spiral Life Cycle
Since the mid-1980s, the evolutionary life cycle has emerged, based on the pioneering work of Tom Gilb and Barry Boehm. While the evolutionary model has moved into the mainstream, many practitioners have not changed their deterministic mind-set. Long-term predictability has been abandoned for short-term predictability, but it is predictability nonetheless. For example, Tom Gilb's recent work entails detailed component planning and great precision in specifying requirements.
Adaptive Life Cycle
Salzer Technologies has also applied its unique approach of strategic thinking to the evolutionary life cycle of product development. The Salzer Team looked at the traditional model for product life cycle development—the circular approach of build, plan, revise—based on predictability, and has adapted it to work efficiently in real-world development situations. The outcome is the Adaptive Product Development Lifecycle approach. While still cyclical, the Salzer APDL model is adaptable to the unpredictable nature of today’s increasingly complex systems. As the production environment changes, developers using the traditional model would look for a new set of cause-and-effect rules—while innovators using the adaptive model know that there are no such rules to find.
APDL improves decision making at all levels of the organization through powerful and flexible analytics capabilities that cover enterprise-wide functions including information asset management, product safety, product quality and maintenance management. It brings products to market in a more personalized way, helping companies offer products that are tailored to individual needs. Improved knowledge of available parts and components reduces costly design and engineering work and allows vendors to enter niche markets.
