In this blog, learn about Co-Development with Partners using Jama Connect

Jama Connect^® Features in Five: Co-Development with Partners

Discover how Jama Connect empowers seamless co-development with your partners! In this Features in Five session, Mario Maldari, Director of Product and Solution Marketing at Jama Software, demonstrates how Jama Connect’s Review Center enables secure collaboration, granular access control, and iterative feedback cycles. Learn how to streamline cross-company collaboration, maintain a single source of truth, and accelerate your time to market!

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Mario Maldari: Hello. My name is Mario Maldari, and I’m the Director of Product and Solution Marketing at Jama Software. Today, we’ll be discussing how Jama Connect allows for co-development with partners while maintaining full control over access.

In a co-development scenario, you can share a Jama Connect project with your partner and utilize our granular permission to control access and information. You can also utilize our comprehensive Review Center and invite partners and stakeholders to participate in requirement reviews. Jama Connect is number one in enabling partner codevelopment. Thousands of engineers are already collaborating across companies today.

Some of the unique Jama Connect features that enable this collaboration are multi-tenant SaaS, no IT involvement required, centralized control of user administration and access rights, a comprehensive and collaborative reuse center, cross-company collaboration, including at mentions, subscribing, and chat streams. The Jama Connect Review Center is number one in partner codevelopment reviews.

RELATED: Buyer’s Guide: How to Select the Right Requirements Management and Traceability Solution

Maldari: Some unique Jama Connect features of our Review Center are iterative review cycles with a dedicated work stream for early-stage peer reviews and final approval reviews, reviewer and approval role control, approval role delegation, related items included in reviews for context and completeness, a reviewer role at no added cost. This includes external partners, stakeholders, allowing for co-development and collaboration. In this video, we will explore how Jama Connect’s Review Center enables co-development with partners.

Arms-length relationships are moving to co-development to speed time to market. Only Jama Connect enables you to include partners in your development process and control their access. Let’s explore how this is achieved in Jama Connect today.

Any artifact or set of artifacts in Jama Connect can be sent to the Review Center. Let’s select a set of stakeholder requirements and create a new review. There are a number of options and configurations that can be selected according to your review process. Internal reviewers can be added as approvers or reviewers. External partners and stakeholders can also be invited to the review simply by adding their email address. They are provided a free license that allows them to participate in the review as codevelopers or partners.

RELATED: The Strategic Transition: From Word and Excel to Modern Requirements Management

Maldari: This allows for all review comments and sign-off from internal and partner teams to be kept in Jama Connect as a single source of truth. In this case, Jim, the project manager, will add Mario as an external stakeholder to participate in the review. Mario will receive an email with instructions and a link inviting him to participate in the review. He can simply click on the link and is able to see all of the requirements that are part of the review and comment, approve, or reject as appropriate. Here is the email that Mario has received from Jim Arlo inviting him to participate in the review. You can click on the link, open the review, and Jama Connect’s simple UI provides an easy way to go through each requirement and collaborate with the internal team. Requirements can be approved or rejected, and new versions of the review created based on updates and subsequent revisions. This can be an iterative and collaborative process between internal teams and external stakeholders.

The end result is quality requirements that are agreed to by both teams. Jama Connect’s Review Center was designed for ease of use and for collaboration with both internal and external teams, allowing for Jama Connect to be the single source of truth for co-development teams. Thank you for watching this Features in Five video on how to use Jama Connect to co-develop with your partners and suppliers. For more information, please reach out to your customer success manager or go to our website at jamasoftware.com

To view more Jama Connect Features in Five topics, visit:
Jama Connect Features in Five Video Series

Delivering high-quality, compliant, and complex products on schedule and on budget is never easy. Whether your hardware and software development teams are distributed globally or nationally, achieving the necessary alignment and coordination of work activities becomes a significant challenge. Engaging your supply chain presents even higher hurdles. This article provides practical insights into fostering effective team collaboration for distributed teams to ensure that your development projects remain on track and your corporate goals are met.

Unlocking Project Success with Structured Collaboration

Why is effective collaboration critical for distributed teams?

When teams operate in silos, the risk of miscommunication, delays, and budget overruns increases exponentially. Navigating different time zones, cultural nuances, and disparate toolsets can lead to information gaps and a lack of a unified project vision. Without a structured approach to collaboration for all internal and external teams, companies struggle to maintain the alignment and coordination necessary to meet aggressive deadlines and deliver products that satisfy customer and industry requirements. This challenge directly impacts your ability to innovate and compete effectively in the market.

How does ineffective collaboration jeopardize project success and regulatory compliance?

When teams aren’t communicating and coordinating, they often miss new or changed requirements or tests. This can lead to expensive rework to address quality or safety issues or project defects during development or product recalls or customer complaints after development. For companies in regulated industries such as medical devices, automotive, or aerospace & defense, these gaps can have severe consequences including failed audits and compliance that can prevent or delay delivery to customers. A lack of a centralized, auditable trail of decisions and reviews involving all necessary stakeholders makes it nearly impossible to prove due diligence which can put the entire development process at risk. Ensuring your teams are on the same page in adhering to standards and best practices is essential for navigating complex regulatory landscapes.

RELATED: Buyer’s Guide: Selecting a Requirements Management and Traceability Solution

What tools centralize communication and streamline critical review cycles?

To overcome these hurdles faced by distributed teams, leading organizations adopt a centralized platform for requirements, risk, and test management that facilitates structured collaboration. Individual productivity tools such as email, documents, and spreadsheets are inadequate for managing the complexity of modern product development by distributed teams because they often result in conversation fragments and version control nightmares. A dedicated platform provides a single source of truth, ensuring every stakeholder contributing to the development process is working from the most current information. This centralization is the first step toward breaking down silos and fostering genuine team collaboration among distributed teams.

How does a platform like Jama Connect^® foster seamless cross-function team collaboration?

Jama Connect is designed specifically to address the challenges faced by distributed teams by combining a single source of truth with a structured environment for communication and decision-making. Its intuitive, easy-to-use Review Center functionality allows internal and external stakeholders to provide critical input and feedback directly on requirements and test cases in a clear, contextual, and traceable manner. This eliminates the ambiguity of offline comments and ensures all feedback is captured and addressed systematically. This intuitive process keeps everyone aligned, regardless of their location or time zone.

RELATED: Why Investing in Requirements Management During an Economic Downturn Makes Good Business Sense

What are the tangible benefits of Jama Connect’s structured collaboration?

By implementing Jama Connect, you have the solution for completing development on time and on budget. The platform enhances team and work alignment, which reduces costly rework and accelerates development cycles. In addition, you gain greater control and visibility into the development process, allowing you to address issues that the platform automatically identifies for you and ensure compliance with all applicable safety, quality, and other regulations. This leads to faster delivery of high-quality products or systems that meet customer requirements and strengthen your company’s market position.

Take the Next Step

Ready to transform how your distributed teams collaborate and innovate? See how Jama Connect provides a centralized platform that enables your teams to work together to gather input, streamline reviews, ensure compliance, and deliver innovative products on schedule.

Schedule a Jama Connect Demo Today

To learn more, watch a short video about Jama Connect’s powerful collaboration features:

Getting Started with Jama Connect: Collaboration

Note: This article was drafted with the aid of AI. Additional content, edits for accuracy, and industry expertise by Mark Levitt and Mario Maldari.

In this blog, we recap our recent Whitepaper, “Navigating AI Safety with ISO 8800 in Road Vehicles”

Navigating AI Safety with ISO 8800 in Road Vehicles

Editor’s Note: This blog post is based off of content from our recent webinar, presented by Matt Mickle and Jody Nelson from SecuRESafe (SRES). To learn more about how SRES can help your team develop responsibly safe and secure products for the evolving automotive and industrial space, please visit SecuRESafe (SRES). 

The automotive industry is in the midst of a transformation, driven by the rise of autonomous systems and artificial intelligence (AI). With the promise of enhanced safety, efficiency, and reliability, these technologies are rapidly advancing. However, as the complexity of AI systems used in road vehicles grows, ensuring their safety continues to be a top priority. Key to achieving this is the emergence of new standards like ISO 8800, a pivotal framework for guiding AI safety practices.

AI-powered road vehicles introduce numerous safety challenges, from understanding edgecase scenarios to managing real-time decision-making under varying conditions. Without proper safety assurances, these systems pose risks that could compromise passenger safety and public trust.

Existing Standards and Their Limitations

Standards like ISO 26262 (Functional Safety) and ISO/PAS 21448 (SOTIF – Safety of the Intended Functionality) have laid solid foundations for addressing traditional safety concerns. However, they do not fully account for the dynamic and adaptive nature of AI systems. This gap underscores the importance of ISO 8800.

RELATED: Accelerate Automotive Software Process Improvement and Capability Determination (ASPICE) with Jama Connect^®

Addressing the Gaps with ISO 8800

ISO 8800 aims to bridge the existing gaps by providing comprehensive guidelines tailored specifically to AI-driven systems and their unique challenges. Unlike traditional systems, AI operates in a highly dynamic environment where decision-making is continuously evolving based on real-time data inputs. This introduces complexity in ensuring predictable and safe behavior, especially in unprecedented situations.

One of the key contributions of ISO 8800 is its focus on the explainability and transparency of AI decisions. By mandating traceable decision-making processes, it ensures that the behavior of AI systems can be understood, audited, and, if necessary, corrected. This is crucial for building trust and accountability, particularly in high-stakes contexts such as autonomous vehicles. Additionally, ISO 8800 emphasizes robust testing methodologies that go beyond conventional verification techniques. These methodologies consider edge cases, rare events, and adaptive learning mechanisms to ensure the AI system performs safely under even the most unpredictable circumstances.

By addressing these and other critical facets, ISO 8800 not only enhances existing standards but also sets a forward-looking precedent for ensuring the safety and reliability of AI systems in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.

ISO 8800 Overview

ISO 8800 focuses on ensuring that AI systems deployed in road environments adhere to rigorous safety standards while maintaining adaptability to real-world challenges. The framework is built around several key pillars, including behavior modeling, risk assessment, and continuous improvement processes.

First, ISO 8800 emphasizes the creation of robust behavior models for AI systems. These models define how an AI system should act in varying scenarios, taking into account factors such as traffic conditions, weather changes, and unforeseen obstacles. By establishing clear behavioral expectations, ISO 8800 aims to prevent unpredictable AI actions that could compromise safety.

Second, the framework requires comprehensive risk assessment protocols. This involves identifying potential vulnerabilities and failure points in AI systems and implementing strategies
to mitigate these risks. Importantly, ISO 8800 promotes a proactive approach, encouraging developers to anticipate edge cases — rare and complex situations that may strain an AI system’s capabilities.

Lastly, continuous improvement is a fundamental aspect of ISO 8800. AI systems must undergo regular updates and evaluations to ensure optimal performance in evolving environments. The framework supports ongoing data collection and analysis, allowing developers to refine algorithms and adapt to new challenges over time. By addressing these areas, ISO 8800 provides a structured foundation for managing the intricacies of AI in road safety, paving the way for innovation that aligns with public trust and regulatory expectations.

Core Principles

• Transparency: Ensure clear visibility into AI decision-making processes.
• Robustness: Design AI systems to perform reliably even under challenging and unforeseen conditions.
• Fairness and Accountability: Mitigate biases in AI algorithms and establish accountability mechanisms for system failures.

Interoperability with Other Standards

One of ISO 8800’s strengths is its compatibility with existing safety standards, complementing ISO 26262 and SOTIF. Together, these frameworks create a holistic approach to managing road vehicle safety.

Benefits of ISO 8800 Adoption

The adoption of ISO 8800 brings forth a range of strategic and operational advantages for organizations working on AI-driven systems, particularly in safety-critical industries. One of the most significant benefits is the enhancement of trust in AI systems. By adhering to standardized guidelines that emphasize safety, transparency, and reliability, companies can demonstrate their commitment to ethical AI practices. This commitment builds confidence not only among regulatory bodies but also within the general public and the broader industry ecosystem.

Another crucial advantage is the reduction of safety risks. ISO 8800 provides a robust framework for identifying, assessing, and mitigating potential hazards associated with AI operations. This systematic approach reduces the likelihood of accidents, malfunctions, or unforeseen consequences, particularly in applications such as autonomous vehicles, healthcare technologies, and industrial automation. Furthermore, by minimizing risks, organizations can lower the potential costs associated with failures or liability claims.

Regulatory compliance also becomes significantly more streamlined with ISO 8800. The standard aligns closely with emerging global regulations, helping organizations stay ahead in meeting legal and procedural requirements. This proactive alignment not only speeds up product approvals but also positions organizations as leaders in regulatory adherence, further strengthening their market reputation.

Lastly, adopting ISO 8800 can unlock new opportunities for innovation and collaboration. By integrating these standards into their development processes, companies create systems that are interoperable and compatible with broader networks. This fosters collaboration with partners, suppliers, and stakeholders while driving industry-wide advancements. Ultimately, ISO 8800 serves as a critical enabler of long-term success in building safe, reliable, and scalable AI systems.

RELATED: Buyer’s Guide: Selecting a Requirements Management and Traceability Solution for Automotive

BEST PRACTICES FOR COMPLIANCE

Integrating ISO 8800 in Your Systems

• Start with a Gap Analysis: Identify areas where current practices fall short of ISO 8800 requirements.
• Develop a Comprehensive Safety Plan: Define clear safety goals and documentation protocols.
• Leverage Scalable Tools: Use model-based approaches to manage complexities in AI behavior.

Achieving compliance with ISO 8800 requires a well-structured and proactive approach. Begin by conducting a thorough gap analysis to evaluate your current processes against ISO 8800 standards. This initial step allows organizations to pinpoint specific areas where improvements are necessary, ensuring resources are allocated effectively. Following this, the development of a comprehensive safety plan is crucial. Such a plan should outline clear safety objectives, specify documentation procedures, and include ongoing evaluation mechanisms to ensure continuous improvement. It is essential to integrate roles and responsibilities across teams to foster
accountability and streamline implementation efforts.

Organizations should also invest in scalable tools to manage the inherent complexities of AI system behavior. Model-based approaches can be particularly effective, enabling teams to simulate, test, and validate system responses in a controlled environment. Additionally, prioritizing robust data management practices — such as ensuring data quality, traceability, and transparency — can strengthen the organization’s ability to identify risks and address them proactively. Regular training and awareness programs for staff are equally important to ensure alignment with compliance requirements and foster a culture of safety.

Finally, maintaining consistent communication with stakeholders, including regulatory bodies, industry partners, and end-users, helps build trust and demonstrates a commitment to adhering to ISO 8800. Establishing a feedback loop where compliance practices are periodically reviewed and refined will significantly enhance both reliability and long-term industry credibility.

By embedding these best practices, organizations can ensure a robust framework for safety and compliance while keeping pace with evolving industry standards.

DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE WHITEPAPER TO LEARN MORE FAQS ABOUT ISO 8800:
Navigating AI Safety with ISO 8800 in Road Vehicles

In this blog, we recap our recent eBook, “The Clear Choice: Why Jama Connect Surpasses Codebeamer for Requirements Management and End-to-End Traceability.”

The Clear Choice: Why Jama Connect^® Surpasses Codebeamer for Requirements Management and End-to-End Traceability

To adapt to increasing industry challenges and complexities, innovative organizations are now requiring best-in-class software to scale development, reduce risk, save time, and ensure compliance to quality, safety, and security regulations.

As organizations strive to deliver innovative products while navigating regulatory requirements, the tools they use for requirements management and traceability can make or break their success. This eBook is designed to help you understand the critical differences between Jama Connect and Codebeamer, two leading requirements management solutions, so you can make an informed decision.

The Requirements Sector

The landscape of requirements management has undergone significant transformation. Traditional tools (like IBM^® DOORS^®) which once dominated the market, are now considered outdated. These legacy systems often lack the flexibility, ease of use, and integration capabilities required by modern teams. As a result, organizations are turning to modern solutions like Jama Connect that are built to meet the needs of today’s dynamic development environments.

Why Jama Connect?

Jama Connect stands out as a leading requirements management solution because it is designed with the user in mind. Its modern, user-friendly interface, combined with powerful features like comprehensive traceability and real-time collaboration, ensures that teams can manage requirements and risks effectively throughout the product, systems, and software lifecycle. Jama Connect also emphasizes customer success, offering expert support and training to help teams maximize their investment. Ease of use, rapid deployment, pre-configured, well-documented industry frameworks, and in-house subject matter experts provide the fastest time-to-value/ROI without sacrificing quality or safety.

RELATED: See why users rank Jama Connect as the #1 requirements management tool on the market in the most recent G2 Report

The Clear Advantages of Jama Connect Over Codebeamer

If you’re comparing Jama Connect to Codebeamer, one thing is clear — Jama Connect is the only purpose-built requirements management platform that delivers Live Traceability™ which allows engineering and other teams toquickly and easily access the latest and most complete information for any requirement, no matter the stage of development or tools used. This real-time capability boosts productivity by ensuring teams work with the latest data and reduces risks like delays and defects by finding issues early. In addition, Jama Connect accelerates your product, systems, and software development by managing user needs and product information across the end-to-end development lifecycle.

Only Jama Connect Delivers Live Traceability™ Across Best-of-Breed Tools

Other vendors lock you into inferior platforms. Only Jama Connect seamlessly integrates with your tools-of-choice across engineering teams. And, only Jama Connect can manage the state of development across all integrated teams and tools. Jama Connect’s unique and industry-specific Traceability Information Models define the relationships and expected behavior across teams and tools.

Learn More »

Our customers consistently tell us that they chose Jama Connect over Codebeamer for the following reasons:

1. Ease of Use and High Adoptability

Jama Connect’s intuitive design and user-friendly interface make it easy for teams to adopt and use. Unlike Codebeamer, which can be complex and challenging for new users, Jama Connect ensures that teams can start managing requirements effectively with minimal training. Users insist on a requirements management and traceability solution that is easy to use so that both internal and external stakeholders can efficiently access, share, and review information in a single source of truth, increasing and speeding up the adoption across teams for a better ROI.

The ease of use is not only imperative for users but also for administrators. Jama Connect offers an intuitive and user-friendly administration interface that enables admins to adapt the tool to their organization’s needs without having to learn overcomplicated configuration settings and concepts.

2. Modern Integration and Collaboration Capabilities

Jama Connect provides comprehensive traceability and impact analysis, enabling teams to manage change effectively and reduce the risk of errors. The platform seamlessly integrates with other best-of-breed tools (including Jira and Azure DevOps) in the development ecosystem, ensuring that teams can work efficiently without having to change their other development tools. In contrast, Codebeamer focuses on working solely with other PTC tools and its own limited application lifecycle management (ALM) capabilities.

Modern product and software development requires optimal real-time collaboration between stakeholders. Jama Connect provides an enhanced collaboration experience with its communication streams and advanced Review Center, enabling both internal and external stakeholders with the capabilities to perform formal and iterative reviews.

RELATED: Traceable Agile™ – Speed AND Quality Are Possible for Software Factories in Safety-critical Industries

3. Intelligent Engineering Management

Jama Connect empowers Intelligent Engineering Management by addressing a critical challenge faced by engineering and product development organizations: the lack of real-time KPIs and metrics during development. This gap often leads to delays, budget overruns, and product defects or recalls. Jama Connect uniquely transforms traceability into a measurable instrument, enabling teams to track real-time metrics and KPIs throughout the product development process. By providing a comprehensive overview of project progress and aligning it with required processes, teams can identify gaps early, mitigate risks, and avoid missed requirements. With its Live Traceability™ and integrations with other best-in-breed engineering tools, Jama Connect ensures that both internal and external data are seamlessly managed, driving informed decision-making and on-time project delivery.

4. Strong Customer Support

We know that our customers need a support team that makes them a priority. That’s why Jama Connect offers unparalleled customer support (including 24/7 support for any production outages), with dedicated customer success teams that work closely with you to ensure you achieve your goals. In contrast, Codebeamer’s support can be limited, making it difficult for your teams to get the help they need when they need it.

5. Scalable and Flexible

Jama Connect is highly adaptable, making it suitable for a wide range of industries and project sizes. Whether your organization is in automotive, aerospace, medical devices, or another industry, Jama Connect can be tailored to meet your specific needs, often getting you up and running quickly with custom-built data frameworks to satisfy your industries regulations and best practices. Additionally, the platform offers flexible deployment options, including cloud and self-hosted, giving you the freedom to choose the best setup for your organization.

6. Fastest Time to Market/ROI

Deploy Jama Connect’s easy-to-use interface in weeks, not months, with easy updates and high performance. Preconfigured frameworks are built-in to satisfy industry regulations and help teams ease the path to compliance, along with in-house industry-focused subject-matter experts and exceptional customer support.

7. Lowest Total Cost of Ownership

With simple and straightforward administration and no need for custom scripting or continuous updating, Jama Connect has the lowest total cost of ownership in comparison to Codebeamer. Jama Connect scales easily without big infrastructure investment, and with unlimited no-cost access for extended internal/external stakeholders, all team members can be involved with additional costs.

THIS HAS BEEN A PREVIEW – TO READ THIS EBOOK IN ITS ENTIRETY, VISIT:
The Clear Choice: Why Jama Connect Surpasses Codebeamer for Requirements Management and End-to-End Traceability

2025 Expert Predictions for Medical Device & Life Sciences: Innovations in Patient-Centered Care and the Future of Medical Device Design

As patient-centered care takes center stage, the medical industry is witnessing an unprecedented transformation in how devices are designed, developed, and regulated. From the rise of direct-to-patient products and AI-enabled diagnostics to the challenges posed by cybersecurity and evolving regulatory landscapes, 2025 promises to be a pivotal year for medical innovation.

In part five of our annual predictions series, Richard Matt – Medical Product Consultant at Aspen Medical Risk Consulting, and Vincent Balgos – Director, Solutions & Consulting at Jama Software, share their insights on the future of medical devices. Together, they explore how digital solutions are reshaping patient care, the hurdles the industry must overcome, and the exciting possibilities for advancing remote monitoring, telehealth, and AI-powered solutions.

We like to stay on top of trends in other industries as well. Read our predictions for Industrial & Consumer Electronics (ICE) HERE, Automotive HERE, Semiconductor HERE, and Aerospace & Defense HERE – Plus, stay tuned for our future topic, AECO.

With patient-centered care becoming increasingly important, how do you see software and digital solutions transforming the design and development of medical devices in the next few years?

Richard Matt: Software development needs to mature to a place of contributing equally with other specialties instead of excelling independently. Far too many companies are being held back by technical siloing, usually led by software. The tragedy is that software personnel are among the most creative and productive employees. Their collaboration needs to mature to a place of creating opportunities for other specialties to be as efficient and achieve this together.

Vincent Balgos: There is a growing trend of direct-to-patient products (hearing aids, CGM’s, smartwatch apps) that includes complex software and digital solutions. In addition, most traditional med devices are now connected to the internet or other devices. I’d expect this trend to continue in this digital age, but with that growth, there will be some unintended side effects. Specifically, cybersecurity threats will continue to become a significant factor during the design, development, and on-market phases of the product.

RELATED: Integrate Cybersecurity and Safety Risk Management in Jama Connect^® to Simplify and Accelerate Medical Device Development

Regulatory compliance and data security are paramount in life sciences. What advancements in software do you think will be most effective in managing compliance and protecting sensitive patient data?

Matt: Big data will become more available and utilized systematically to provide answers to questions that have been answered inadequately for decades. Protecting patient data is a simple matter of awareness and giving cybersecurity the sliver of attention it needs to close off the dominant attack vectors.

Balgos: In recent conferences I’ve attended (and read about), AI/ML continue to dominate the discussion around software advancements. Whether providing internal value to organizations, or external facing with AI/ML enabled devices, the impact that AI/ML has (generative, predictive) will play a major factor in the security of data (whether positive or negative). The regulatory guidance of AI/ML is still evolving so it’ll be interesting to see how it unfolds in the future.

As AI and machine learning continue to evolve, what role do you see these technologies playing in medical diagnostics, treatment personalization, and device functionality by 2025?

Matt: AI and ML will continue to evolve, as they have for generations. We have made recent, significant steps forward in natural language recognition, but the integration of that forward movement with diagnostics and treatment personalization will continue to be slow and incremental.

Balgos: The expansion of AI/ML in various traditional areas of med devices is continuing to grow at an exponential rate. Looking at FDA’s dataset, the # of authorized AI/ML enabled devices continue to grow YoY as much as 40% with applications in new areas. Currently, predictive AI is supporting medical professions with their clinical assessment/decisions in a supportive role and seems to be the common use case. But there are current talks now on how generative AI could add potential value in these device areas as well.

What are the biggest hurdles the industry faces in adopting cutting-edge software solutions in device manufacturing and patient care? How can companies proactively address these challenges?

Matt: The biggest hurdle is technical siloing, which software leads very capably. Companies can proactively address this challenge by implementing a systems-approach to problem solving / product development that respects all the technical contributions needed to succeed and ensures software personnel use their exceptional abstraction abilities to work in collaboration with the rest of the company.

Balgos: Some of the biggest hurdles my customers talk to me about are the evolving regulatory landscape, continuing pressures to accelerate development, scalability and ongoing resource and budget constrictions. For changing regulatory, I do recommend folks to work with a qualified regulatory affairs profession for guidance (and is now required in EU). For acceleration, scalability and resource constraints, companies are proactively looking for ways to maximize efficiency and looking to innovative ways to help organizations (e.g., AI applications).

RELATED: Buyer’s Guide: Selecting a Requirements Management and Traceability Solution for Medical Device & Life Sciences

How do you foresee the growing demand for remote patient monitoring and telehealth impacting product development for medical devices? What innovations do you think are necessary to support these shifts?

Matt: COVID was an unplanned stress test on our remote work capabilities. We need to analyze the results of that stress test to identify strengths and weaknesses to build into our next generation products and services.

Balgos: Based on the new FDA CDRH Director’s speech at MedTech Conf 2024, these demands coincide with their Home as a Health Care Hub initiative where these homestead digital solutions are becoming more at the forefront of healthcare for many patients. With these increasing interests and demands, I think connectivity of these devices will continue to rise, AI/ML will play a major factor in delivering value, and also improvements in the human factors/usability aspects of these devices will be something to watch. Transitioning from a professionally trained clinical staff to the general population, there will need to be a shift in developing these at home devices to be extremely ‘easy to use’, especially with those that struggle with technology, complex processes, and tedious tactile tasks.

With these innovations, there will be some side effects such as cybersecurity, post market updates, and the interoperability of all these devices. While they seem daunting, I’m confident that industry will rise to the challenge as they have with other previous challenges

Are there any additional insights you have regarding predictions, events, or trends you anticipate happening in 2025 and beyond?

Balgos: In early 2026, the FDA’s final rule on the Quality Management System Regulation (QMSR) will be effective, thereby incorporating ISO 13485 elements into the current Quality System Regulation (QSR). QMSR will supersede QSR.

How to Overcome Development Challenges: Collaboration & Alignment in Complex Product, Systems, and Software Development

In the dynamic world of product and software development, effective collaboration is crucial for success. However, teams often face significant challenges that can hinder progress and innovation. Understanding these challenges and finding robust solutions is essential for seamless and productive teamwork. One such solution is Jama Connect^®, a powerful platform designed to enhance collaboration and streamline development processes. In this blog post, we will explore the common challenges in collaboration and how Jama Connect can help overcome them.

Common Collaboration Challenges in Product and Software Development

1: Communication Gaps

• Problem: Miscommunication or lack of communication can lead to misunderstandings, errors, and delays. With team members often working remotely or across different time zones, keeping everyone on the same page can be difficult.
• Solution: Jama Connect provides a centralized communication platform where all team members can access the latest information, updates, and discussions. This helps ensure everyone is aligned and informed, reducing the risk of miscommunication.

2: Fragmented Documentation

• Problem: Keeping track of documentation and ensuring it is up-to-date can be challenging, especially when it is spread across multiple tools and platforms. This fragmentation can lead to confusion and inconsistencies.
• Solution: Jama Connect offers a unified repository for all project documentation. Teams can create, store, and manage documents in one place, making it easier to maintain consistency and quickly find the necessary information.

“Jama Connect has a very powerful user interface, traceability, coverage, revision history, and review collaboration. The verification and validation plan runs are great for program tests traceability.” – Ander Solorzano, Principal Systems Engineer, Astrobotic

3: Requirement Mismanagement

• Problem: Managing requirements effectively is critical in product development, but it can be challenging to track changes and ensure all requirements are met. Mismanagement can result in overlooked or unmet requirements, leading to product issues and customer dissatisfaction.
• Solution: Jama Connect’s requirements management capabilities allow teams to define, track, and manage requirements throughout the development lifecycle. This ensures that all requirements are documented, tracked, and verified, reducing the risk of oversight.

RELATED: Why Choose Jama Connect^® Over Microsoft Word and Excel Documents for Requirements Management

4: Lack of Visibility

• Problem: Limited visibility into the project’s progress and status can hinder decision-making and delay issue resolution. Team members and stakeholders need a clear view of the project’s health to make informed decisions.
• Solution: Jama Connect provides real-time visibility into project status, progress, and potential roadblocks. Dashboards and reporting tools offer insights into key metrics, helping teams identify issues early and take corrective action.

5: Inefficient Review and Approval Processes

• Problem: Traditional review and approval processes can be time-consuming and prone to bottlenecks. Delays in getting approvals can slow down the entire development process.
• Solution: Jama Connect streamlines review and approval workflows, allowing teams to collaborate efficiently. Automated notifications and reminders ensure that reviews and approvals are completed promptly, keeping the project on track.

“Prior to selecting Jama Connect, we had experience with other platforms, we had multiple trials and settled on Jama Connect because of how innovative it is. Especially in areas of Collaboration, Ease of Use, and the ability to configure and integrate with other lifecycle tools.” – Sr Principal Business Analyst and Enterprise Architect, Biotechnology Company

How Jama Connect^® Facilitates Effective Collaboration

1: Centralized Platform

• Jama Connect serves as a single source of truth for all project-related information, enabling seamless collaboration. Team members can easily access and share information, ensuring everyone is working with the latest data.

2: Real-Time Collaboration

• With real-time collaboration features, Jama Connect allows team members to work together on documents, requirements, and tasks simultaneously. This reduces delays and fosters a more collaborative environment.

3: Traceability

• Jama Connect ensures end-to-end traceability, allowing teams to trace requirements, design, implementation, and testing back to the original source. This traceability helps maintain alignment and accountability throughout the development process.

“Jama Connect is a centralized platform for managing requirements, fostering collaboration, and ensuring alignment across global teams.” – Sekhar Ghandikota, Senior Engineer, Ford Motor

RELATED: Traceable Agile™ – Speed AND Quality Are Possible for Software Factories in Safety-critical Industries

4: Customizable Workflows

• The platform offers customizable workflows that can be tailored to fit the specific needs of the team. This flexibility ensures that teams can implement processes that work best for them, improving efficiency and collaboration.

5: Integration with Other Tools

• Jama Connect integrates seamlessly with other popular development tools, such as Jira, Slack, and GitHub. This integration helps teams maintain a connected ecosystem, reducing the need to switch between different tools and platforms.

“Jama Connect offers robust collaboration features, traceability and API endpoints. Throughout the development process, efficiency is gained.” – Sekhar Ghandikota, Senior Engineer, Ford Motor

Conclusion

Collaboration is the cornerstone of successful product and software development, but it comes with its own set of challenges. Jama Connect addresses these challenges by providing a robust platform that enhances communication, documentation, requirement management, visibility, and workflows. By leveraging Jama Connect, teams can overcome collaboration hurdles, streamline their development processes, and ultimately deliver high-quality products.

Are you ready to transform your collaboration and take your product development to the next level? Explore Jama Connect today and see how it can help your team achieve its goals.

Note: This article was drafted with the aid of AI. Additional content, edits for accuracy, and industry expertise by Kenzie Jonsson.

In this blog, we recap a webinar discussing the real intent of MBSE (model-based system engineering.)

Today’s products are becoming increasingly complex and software intensive. This presents major challenges for organizations being able to effectively manage all the data, information, and artifacts across the lifecycle for these types of systems — and one of the key reasons that Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) is fast becoming the standard approach to systems engineering for digital transformation today.

Since one size doesn’t fit all, an organization needs to assess the SE capabilities that best fit its domain, product line (degree of complexity), and culture. The level of SE capability an organization establishes needs to be tailored to the size and complexity of systems developed by the organization, whether small, medium, or large projects.

In this webinar, we will cover the following topics:

• Challenges associated using 20th century document-based approach to Systems Engineering
• What is MBSE?
• What is the real intent of MBSE?
• Is MBSE the same thing as SysML?
• Benefits of implementing Systems Engineering from a data-centric perspective
• How Jama Connect helps SE practitioners address these challenges

This webinar will be especially beneficial for those in the aerospace, automotive, defense, and medical industries.

Below is an abbreviated transcript and a recording of our webinar.

The Real Intent of MBSE

Joseph Pitarresi: Well, hello everyone. This is Joseph Pitarresi and I’m the senior product manager for Jama Software labs. I’m very excited about today’s topic, The Real Intent of Model Based Systems Engineering and Keeping up With Complexity. And I’m pleased to introduce our two industry experts for this webinar. First is Lou Wheatcraft, he’s the managing of Wheatland Consulting. Lou has over 50 years experience in MBSE thought leadership and his specialties are in needs and requirements, definition and management and verification and validation. Lou currently co-chairs the INCOSE Requirements Working Group, and he has consulted with global leaders in the sectors of aerospace and defense, medical devices, consumer goods, transportation, and energy.

Very pleased to have Lou with us today. Our second area expert is Jama Software’s own Cary Bryczek. Cary serves as a principal systems engineer and aerospace defense for Jama Software. She’s been with Jama Software for over eight years and has over 15 years in systems engineering leadership roles. Now, with those introductions, let’s get started. Over to you Lou.

Lou Wheatcraft: Well, thank you for having me. It’s an honor to participate in this webinar. The subject is The Real Intent of Model-Based Systems Engineering- Keeping Up With Complexity. This presentation is a follow on to the Whitepaper published by Jama in early December. Today’s increasingly complex centric systems are becoming more than norm how we practice system engineering needs to evolve to help us better develop and manage these more software centric or software intensive systems. Yesterday’s electro-mechanical systems had fewer interactions both internally and externally. Interfaces could be shown on drawings. It isn’t too long ago for a lot of our electro-mechanical systems didn’t contain a single computer chip and now today’s systems like automobiles can have over a hundred computer chips and associated embedded software and all the complexities of interaction between the software in those computer chips and with the hardware mechanical systems.

For software centric systems, internal and external interactions have increased orders of magnitude as have threats and the vulnerabilities. Critical functions in today’s software centric systems are carried out mainly by the software and really the electro-mechanical parts of the system are enablers for the softwares that carry out their key functionality. In INCOSE vision 2025, they recognize this complexity, this set of constant themes throughout the evolution of systems engineering is the ever-increasingly complexity of systems, which can be observed in terms of the number of system functions, components and interfaces and their non-linear interactions, and emerging properties. Each of these indicators, the complexities increased dramatically over the last 50 years and will continue to increase due to the capabilities that stakeholders are demanding and advancement in the technologies that enable these capabilities.

Keeping Up with Complexity

Lou Wheatcraft: This complexity presents organizations with challenges that need to be addressed. Failures can result in tremendous loss. These challenges result in increases in complexity in our systems, increases the role software has in the software architecture. So software centric, software intensive systems are the norm. Dependencies and number of interactions has dramatically increased between parts of the system. Interactions also between the system and the macro system is a part. The number of threats across the interface boundaries and vulnerabilities to those threats, dependencies between project management and the systems engineering, dependencies between system engineering and life cycle process activities and artifacts. The increases in oversight, competition, the pressure and need to reduce development time and time to market. The increases in risk, not just program and project risk, but also development risk, manufacturing, risk, system integration, system verification, system validation, and risk during operations.

And the number of projects that are over budget and experiencing schedule slippage. To address these challenges we must change how we practice system engineering. To address these challenges, it’s important projects incorporate systems thinking into all phases of product development. Projects must manage the integrated system and associate SE artifacts from beginning with the focus on the interdependencies, the parts that make up the system, interactions, both internal and external, integrated system behavior and emerging properties. And this is important because the behavior of the system is a function of the interaction of the parts, both the parts internal, but also interactions of the system within the macro system as part. When we were developing integrated system, they have emerging properties that were not indicated within our needs and requirements and relationships between the engineer and artifacts across the system life cycle. During development of our system, the different life cycle phases involved in developing products each has its own set of artifacts and these artifacts are related to each other.

We need to think about the relationships of the different life cycle processes and the resulting artifacts. And shouldn’t be developed and managed in a silo. Understanding the role of textual needs and requirements as well as diagram/models, which form is the best to communicate specific thing. It’s like two sides of the same coin. One is not sufficient. We need both the textual needs and requirements as well as we need diagrams and models as key analysis tools from which the needs and requirements are derived. We need to establish traceability between all data information across the system life cycle. So the focus of the rest of this presentation is addressing the real intent of model based systems engineering or MBSE for short. From the INCOSE System Engineering handbook, they talk about MBSE versus a Document-Centric Approach System Engineering. And they say, “In a document based system engineering approach, there’s often considerable information generated about the system that’s contained in documents and other artifacts such as specifications, interface control documents, system description documents, trade studies, analysis reports, and verification plans, procedures, and reports.

An MBSE Approach

Lou Wheatcraft: The information that obtained within these documents is often difficult to maintain and synchronize and difficult to assess in terms of quality, correctness, completeness, and consistency.” The document centric approach to system engineering, there are several key issues. The sheer volume of documentation has become overwhelming. We have a large number of documents for a project, each containing key data and information. All this has to be documented, reviewed, baseline configuration managed. Often these documents are done thoroughly at different times, and because of this, it’s nearly impossible to keep data and information in sync, current, correct, consistent resulting in no real single source approved. The vast number of documents results in cost and time overhead that consume a significant part of development cost eating into profit margins.

For projects that are still using the document centric approach system engineering, the development times and time to market are longer for many products, making the company less competitive. To avoid these issues, organizations must move from a document centric to a data centric perspective of systems engineering. The model based system engineering approach addresses many of the problems from the document centric approach to SE. From the INCOSE System Engineering handbook and the MBSE approach, much of this information is captured electronically in the system model or set of models. The system model is a primary artifact of the system engineering process. MBSE formalizes the application, the system engineering through the use of models. The degree to which this information is captured in models and maintained throughout the life cycle, depends on the scope of MBSE effort

Watch the full webinar to learn more about The Real Intent of MBSE

Any engineering team working in a regulated industry understands the complex nature of product development and management. In areas like automotive, aerospace, defense, and medical device manufacturing, it’s a high-stakes effort navigating tight operational margins with little room for product integrity errors. In fact, it requires them to operate at different cadences and with new methodologies and practices to continuously deliver these products to the market quickly and safely – no easy feat!

Many of these organizations, however, have a difficult time keeping pace with the rapidly changing product development environment, especially when their teams work in silos using legacy requirements management systems. As businesses continue to shift focus to faster time-to-market and customer-driven product development, deeper structured collaboration amongst teams is not only desired but necessary. 

What is Structured Collaboration

Structured collaboration is centered around the idea that people can work and interact with one another, moving toward specific and measurable goals. This approach works in two parts, utilizing technology and process frameworks to settle on new and innovative ideas that drive business outcomes. 

By combining presence and unified collaboration with elements of content management (content about your product or system), development process management, and task management — all integrated into a workflow process that coordinates multiple activities from several teams — workers can produce the results that drive the business forward.

Lacking structure at the forefront for product development can lead to wasted time, untraceable changes, lost context for decisions that were made, and missed opportunities for innovation.

RELATED: How to Realign Engineering Teams for Remote Work with Minimal Disruption

Innovation is Dependent on Structured Collaboration

Bringing together innovators across cultures, institutions, and geographic regions to create a new way of accomplishing goals can revolutionize a sector. We’ve experienced this first-hand watching the automotive and healthcare sectors come together to produce life-saving products amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It also presents unique challenges with each group having their own standards and entrenched way of tackling the task at hand. So, how do these teams tackle complicated divides seamlessly? 

Unify Their Goals: When cross-organizational teams have clear and unified goals for developing a product, innovation, or service, they can better overcome challenges inherent to collaborating in a complex environment. 

Clarify Their Roles: Clearly communicating expectations for how and when each team member will be asked to participate helps alleviate the uncertainty that comes with collaborating in a new way. By documenting goals and tracking collaboration each step of the way, it will keep programs moving forward smoothly. 

Encourage Expression of Unique Points of View: Unlocking the creativity needed for innovation requires harnessing insights and unique perspectives across different stakeholders. By bringing in contrasting points of view and encouraging team members to speak up, it will result in robust and better-considered ideas for implementation. Having representation from across the team will also help better assess the impacts of decisions made and identify issues before they become problems. 

Use the Right Tools: We’re fortunate these days to have a plethora of choice in collaboration tools from Slack and Microsoft Teams to Zoom and Google Hangouts. As teams seek input and feedback critical to capturing insights in real-time, these tools begin to serve a vital purpose. These only scratch the surface in eliciting the type of collaboration necessary for modern systems engineering, though.

Enable Cross-Team Alignment with Live Traceability™

While meetings, emails and instant messaging channels serve a purpose, they are simply not sufficient enough for making and tracking key decisions that impact an entire team. Especially when decisions need to be made at the drop of a hat. Modern systems engineering must include means for live data to be shared and accessed by teams anywhere in the world —  at any given time. 

As members of the product team seek to communicate requirements and project status across departments, roles, and geographic boundaries, the golden age of sharing documents and spreadsheets will no longer serve its purpose. Without a digital thread that connects people and processes — from definition to delivery — development teams face increased risk, challenges meeting compliance, and delays that can impact time-to-market and product and systems safety. 

Live Traceability in Jama Connect provide a single-source of truth, cross-team collaboration and end-to-end visibility which forms the digital thread through siloed complex product, systems, and software development.   

Eliminate Collaboration Silos to Enable More Strategic Partnerships

Today’s market demand requires companies to consider strategic partnerships as they seek solutions with more specialized materials. With this comes greater sharing of data across distributed teams, partner organizations and business units. Living in the era of rapidly accelerating change, teams that still operate in silos with legacy systems will not be equipped to meet demands set by the market. 

For engineers so accustomed to working in internal, siloed groups, these new partnerships present previously unforeseen challenges. Structured and strategic team collaboration is the key to improving the product development process for all team members – and this includes everyone across the supply chain.

People working together is at the very core of all product development. For companies to turn the research of today into the products of tomorrow, it is critical that their teams stay connected, synchronized and unified. By aligning business objectives with a system in place that allows for structured reviews and collaboration, teams can elicit feedback, review product features with stakeholders in real-time and track critical decisions across teams and locations. Simply put, it gives complex manufacturers the edge they may otherwise be lacking. 

Download our eBook to learn how to optimize product development with strategic team collaboration.

DOWNLOAD NOW

The Benefits of Collaboration for Government and Defense Teams

Tomorrow’s defense and government systems must be built at a lower cost with shorter timelines often using new Agile acquisition strategies. Since government and defense program teams are largely comprised of civilians and contractors working in distributed locations, efficient and streamlined collaboration is crucial.

In 2018 the US Secretary of Defense encouraged everyone to adopt new practices in order to modernize delivered systems and prioritize the speed of delivery. This encouragement was backed by a Digital Engineering Strategy with aims to allow the DoD and industry partners to work more collaborative at the engineering level. They defined digital engineering “as an integrated digital approach that uses authoritative sources of system data and models as a continuum across disciplines to support lifecycle activities from concept through disposal.”

Expected benefits of digital engineering include: 

• Better informed decision making
• Enhanced communication
• Increased understand of and confidence in the system design
• A more efficient engineering process

Jama Connect’s digital mission engineering platform has been specifically designed to assist in reaping these benefits. The platform’s core functionalities – including requirements version control, change management, baseline management, traceability, verification and validation, and risk analysis – are enhanced with a streamlined collaboration capability that establishes alignment across teams working within complex government programs.

Jama Connect lets government programs leverage lean, information-driven lifecycle techniques for managing strategic objectives, requirements, Agile user stories, features, risks and more.

Two qualities that set Jama Connect apart from the competition include:

1. Ease of use without lengthy training
2. Ease of adoption by broader types of user roles

RELATED: How to Realign Engineering Teams for Remote Work with Minimal Disruption

Aligning Distributed Government and Defense Teams

Distributed government and defense teams must consider ease of adoption and usability when researching requirements management (RM) solutions. Our customers confirm that if engineers and stakeholders don’t find a system intuitive and accessible, acquisition and implementation can be a costly miscalculation. Jama Connect is built and maintained with high-fidelity usability as the guiding principle.

Many requirements management tools require users to achieve unrealistic levels of expertise or otherwise hire expensive experts who fit the criteria. Consequently, most teams end up working outside the system using documents and spreadsheets. The result: A requirements and traceability ordeal that slows the development cycle, introduces unnecessary amounts of risk, and defeats the purpose of having a dedicated RM tool.

RELATED: A Path to MBSE with Jama Connect

The Benefits of Collaboration in a Modern Requirements Management Platform

Requirements management in Jama Connect eliminates reliance on documents and supports rapid delivery of complex, workable systems by bridging all the teams and work in real-time. The result is the connection of a multitude of interacting subsystems with a robust digital thread.

Jama Connect provides a modern solution that transforms system development into a transparent, measurable, and controlled systems engineering discipline. With industry-leading competence in an enterprise-class platform that is rapidly adaptable to the unique needs of each organization, Jama Connect is an analyst-recognized leader in the requirements management market, delivering unmatched value in each of the following areas:

• Requirements Engineering: Our web-based application provides the ability to intuitively author requirements, maintain versions, control change, baseline, and collaboratively review and approve.
• End-to-End Traceability: Link and decompose program-level capability requirements and operational requirements to derived system requirements, and then down to lower-level software and hardware requirements.
• Change Management: With fine-grain impact analysis providing instant data insights, you can make informed decisions as requirements evolve during long development cycles or shift in mission, cost, or technology.
• Fast Reviews & Approvals: Share and gain consensus on acceptance criteria by leveraging higher levels of stakeholder collaboration among government, suppliers, and subcontractors.
• Virtualized Control Boards: Built-in collaboration technology lets teams capture all communication in a central system alongside system data. Items linked to related conversations, questions, and reasoning can be reviewed throughout development and archived after.
• Quicker, Clearer Decisions: Request decisions on changes within the context of the items and projects. Transparent decision-making gives you immediate clarity and saves time.
• Risk Management: The pressure to develop systems with lower costs, shorter timelines, and agile acquisition never stops. Jama Connect provides a voice across acquisition, development, and integration teams to collaboratively define, validate, and verify risks and ensure that they are accounted for and mitigated in the earliest stages of development.
• Verification & Validation: Seamlessly manage traceability between requirements and test cases used for verification & validation and provide evidence to comply with regulations and standards.

To learn more about how Jama Connect supports digital engineering and collaboration for Government and Defense teams, download our whitepaper.

DOWNLOAD NOW

Editor’s Note: This post about how to optimize product development was originally published here on DevOps.com on July 31st, 2020, and was written by Josh Turpen, Jama Software’s Chief Product Officer. 

Systems engineers have faced complexity since the dawn of time. And while bringing complicated projects to market under old rules, methods and technologies was never a walk in the park, today’s highly competitive market presents new challenges to prove the old rules of product development are defunct. In fact, a recent report from Machina Research, now part of Gartner, estimates the number of connected machine-to-machine devices will increase to 27 billion by 2024, up from 5 billion in 2014. The sheer increase in machine devices alone provides a clear picture of the importance placed on systems engineers to stay the course when navigating product development’s complex nature.

Within the constantly evolving modern product development system comes an increasingly intricate development process. Today’s system engineers are fighting to fit a square peg into a round hole by using old tactics to solve new challenges. This includes an accelerated rate of innovation, increasingly complex end user asks, tighter deadlines and ever-changing regulations. Alongside these challenges, Forrester Consulting found that product development is facing five main obstacles in keeping teams from true optimization:

• The confusing and constantly changing nature of requirements and a lack of quick development for solutions.
• Stakeholders providing conflicting priorities, assumptions and unclear objectives.
• Difficulty collaborating across globally distributed teams.
• Unnecessary handoffs and delayed decisions.
• The increased need for collaboration across diverse roles.

So what is the solution to these problems, you ask? One could argue strategic team collaboration is the best way to address both the challenges of the modern product development landscape and the obstacles systems engineers are facing. Let’s dig into that a bit deeper.

RELATED: How to Realign Engineering Teams for Remote Work with Minimal Disruption

Team Collaboration: An Enabler of Innovation

Teams that are still operating with outdated strategies and systems find themselves unable to adapt and adjust quickly when the market changes. With rapid growth predicted to stay at a steady rate, strategic collaboration allows companies to build partnerships and seek solutions that are adaptable and specialized. This includes sharing data throughout your whole business, including distributed teams and partner organizations, which allows transparency to reach the entire supply chain. With the COVID-19 pandemic causing supply chain halts and the backup of product releases, it is now more important than ever to ensure communication throughout the entire development process.

With the country leaning on a remote workforce more heavily this year, virtual meetings and emails are not sufficient enough as communication tools for a team that has to coordinate across departments, roles, companies and geographic boundaries. As a first step to meet these demands, system engineers should consider the following strategies:

1. Ask your team the question, what does success look like? If each member has a different end goal, you will end up wasting valuable time. By defining what success looks like, you can align your teams on what you are building and clarify expectations upfront. This saves time and allows for better communication across teams.
2. Support better decision-making through situational awareness. When you have communication upfront about a team’s end goal, they are far more likely to make decisions that work toward achieving that. Without situational awareness, employees are unable to comprehend the impact of their decisions or clearly define their roles and responsibilities. This makes it difficult to settle on the right choice when faced with a bump in the road.
3. Ensure you’re up-to-date with your traceability practices. Especially for those who need to adhere to regulations, traceability analysis allows you to ensure your system holds up under regulatory demands. Further, it meets contractual terms before you encounter a problem.
4. Create collaboration with a purpose. Ensure relevant data is accessible to everyone to whom it may be relevant, and keep them in the loop on decisions that happen outside the process as much as possible. When you keep your teams in the know, they are able to work collaboratively and with greater situational analysis.

At the end of the day, your goal should be to empower your whole team through data sharing, transparency and a clear definition of success. When you are able to do this, your team will be better positioned to make decisions that benefit the project and work symbiotically across diverse roles.

We may not be able to predict exactly where the product development industry is going, but know that there will be rapid innovation. It’s best to prepare your teams now; otherwise, it will be a bumpy ride.

Download our eBook to learn how optimize product development with strategic team collaboration.

DOWNLOAD NOW