Project Opportunities - Designs Commitment
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Freedom from
Surprises Newsletter
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August 2007 |
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Dear Product Development Engineer,
Opportunity
assessment. What does that mean to you and your design team? On the
business end of things there is activity to determine cost,
feasibility, timing, market potential, ASP's and so on. As the design
team you play a role in generating a sizeable portion of the
information that drives the decision to proceed or not on a new
project. The business will be seeking a design commitment and carry
through based on the information design provides. How successful is
design in carrying through? For this month I will be discussing the
opportunity assessment process and how design might enhance the quality
of their deliverables into it. Improved quality preparation enables the
design team to commit to the business and carry through to a higher
level.
Jeff Jorvig, IC Design Process Coach
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Opportunity Assessment - Designs Role
Marketing
has come to you about a project opportunity and has produced a high
level feature set, a sample date and are requesting an appraisal of
what could be done and when. The expectation is that you will return in
a few days with a plan, a more detailed feature set, a die size and be
able to commit to the business.
Clarity and thoroughness of
communication is essential in your response back to the business
thereby ensuring everyone is in sync with the expectations of a new
project. There must be no ambiguity in what will be done, who will work
on it, the technology and die size, how long it will take and where the
risks are. These are the baseline assumptions for successful execution
of a new project and must be well understood by the business as an
integral part of their decision. Design must gather, develop and
disseminate this information, quickly and thoroughly.
Some
organizations have a process for gathering the required information,
some have a limited process, some do not have a process in place and
some believe a process exists, although it is hard to determine what it
is. No matter what the state of your business process I suggest a very
concise, written and consistently formatted response to any opportunity
that design evaluates. The reply to a new project should not be lengthy
and report like; only simple, clear and concise.
As you go
through the process of assessing and committing to a new project keep
in mind three of our "Six Simple Rules of Managing IC Design" as noted
below.
- Commit only after doing your homework. Be
creative,
be aggressive, keep your vision broad and commit only when you have a
means to get there.
- Leave no room for ambiguity or interpretation
in your requirements for success. Say what you need.
- Due diligence on plans and schedules will
reinforce predictability for your design project.
Consider
these guidelines as you plan out your next project. Communicate a crisp
response to the business and commit knowing you have a plan to get the
team to the end objective. Negotiate schedule and cost based on
features, resources, technical risk, tool availability and technology.
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Design Assumptions -
Communicating Designs Response
Responding
to the business with your design plan for a new project requires a
brief although thorough written document suitable for presentation. The
format should remain consistent allowing members of the organization to
quickly find the information that is important to them. Over the years
I have used the phrase "Design Assumptions" to identify this project
communication package from design back to the business.
The content of the design assumptions should include the following:
- Project Scope - Reflect back what you believe
the scope
of the effort is
- FAB Process and any required options
- I/O Plans - #pads, source of pads, pad
development, ESD/latchup requirements
- Design
Environment - This is a catchall for flow, tools, PDK, tool purchases,
top level validation strategy, simulation PVT's etc.
- Floorplan
- These are the assumptions about the physical chip implementation such
as module sizes, bond pad pitch, pad or core limited die etc.
- Design Requirements - These are the high level
design tasks that must be completed for the project.
- Intellectual Property - Potential patents out
of the project and what modules from the project will be packaged for
reuse.
- Risk and Mitigation - What are the risk areas
and what are the mitigation options(s) for those risks.
- Business Assumptions - This is the quick read
for the business and contains die size, tapeout date and resource
information.
 Having
this
information available in a consistent form for any new project
opportunity will set the bar for deliverables from design back to the
business. For your reference I have rolled the required design
assumptions communication into ppt template suitable for presenting the
required information to the business. Click on the picture to the right
to download a pdf version of this template for your review. If you
would like the ppt version send me an email and I would be happy to
send it off to you.
Do your homework, complete a thorough
response as detailed here and you will engage with the business on a
much more productive path to a final commitment. No surprises are the
objective for predictable design execution and the assessment process
design drives directly impacts that goal.
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