An Investigation of Handling of Goal Specifications in Product Development

It is widely accepted that setting up goal specifications is a prerequisite for successful product development. However, the knowledge about how goal specifications are set up and applied in industrial practice is modest. In this paper we will describe an empirical investigation of the handling of goal specifications in two product development projects, which were carried out in two Danish industrial companies.

The aim of the investigation is to identify patterns in the handling of specifications, i.e. expose how goal specifications are set up, and how they are broken down gradually as design work progresses. The result of the investigation is the identification of a characteristic pattern of transformations for a goal specification during a development project.