System-level application of the evolutionary product development process to manufactured goods

Current literature on software product development suggests that it is possible to develop the software architecture alongside the software itself using an evolutionary product development process. That is, engineers can delay finalization of product architecture until well along in the product development process. If there is a financial incentive to delay freezing the architecture until the latter stages of product development, could this process also be used for manufactured goods? This paper provides some examples of delayed architectural decisions, discusses when there might be financial incentives, and then shows some interesting new practices which might facilitate this process. It then comments on the applicability of this evolutionary approach to the development of the product architecture of manufactured goods, and concludes that manufactured goods can potentially realize the gains derived from an evolutionary approach to architectural design. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.