ABSTRACT
A product begins with an idea and through engineering efforts, this mental concept turns into a physical reality. Should this embodiment of the concept fulll a market need-be it real or imagined-it may become a nancial success. Throughout the last six or seven decades, a number of approaches have emerged in order to organize the way products are developed; on the one hand, to bring a certain degree of efciency and on the other hand, to ensure that the nished product is what the customer had asked for and wanted. The majority of these methodologies start with an effort to understand the market and/or customer requirements. And the last step in them ends with a litany of best practices to launch the product. Some authors place a greater emphasis on the front end, that is, the marketing and business needs, while others concentrate on the back end, that is, the product launch. Typically, sources which focus on engineering design practices tend to neglect nonengineering aspects of product development.
