We use time to construct products. Over time we learn things, invent solutions, encounter problems, make decisions. The information we collect is accumulated in the spatial structure of the product and the artifacts that surrounds it. New information changes the shape of the product and lifts it to a new configuration, slightly more refined and fit for its purpose. The project itself is a temporal structure that organizes the flow of information into and out of the development process.
Should we do the specifications first, the code first, the tests first? We should do a little of everything in parallel using the information we have acquired so far. If we don't know from the start what the product should do exactly, then we should focus on code and assembly before specification. The things we learn along the way will go into the specification. If the goal is clear from the start then the specifications should be filled with more content before time is spent on constructing the product. When we are done the final configuration should look approximately the same regardless of how we got there. We should have specifications, code, drawings, assemblies, tests and guides.
It is not only the functional aspects of the product that shapes it. Of equal importance are constraints imposed by efficient industrial production and how to perform compliance testing. From the start of the development project, strive to maintain an integrated product from end to end, extending into production and verification. It is not only the product itself that needs to be constructed, a variety of specialized tools for production and test also needs to be developed.
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