FPGA Central

Hello everyone, I am floored by the number of responses to my original
post. I want to thank everyone for taking the time to express their
thoughts, experiences and opinions. I also want to pass on a document I
found on the internet,
http://www.guymacon.com/ENGINEER/PLANNING/INDEX.HTM

If you have some free time check it out.

Again, I want to thank everyone for sharing their opinions.

joe

jjlindula@hotmail.com wrote:
> Hello, I'm interested in how individuals or design groups manage
> complexity in their design projects. What things do you do or things
> the group does that can take complex tasks and break them into simpler
> or more manageable tasks? It may sound like a weird question, but there
> must be some guidelines, best practices, or habits used to achieve
> success in designing/developing a complex project. I'm sure there must
> be some individuals out there that are constantly taking complex tasks
> and just about every time have success with it. Short of speaking, I
> want to know what's the secret to their success. All comments are
> welcomed, even the most obvious suggestions.
>
> As an engineer, I'm constantly trying to improve my design processes.
>
> Thanks everyone,
> joe

The document has some good infomation, many of my mature customers tell
me exactly what documentation I need to produce so I really have no
choice in the matter!

One comment I thought strange in the document was

"I have worked for Parker Hannifin, an aerospace company where mistakes
result in people being killed. I have worked for Mattel, where the only
factors that matter are how soon you can get the toy into mass
production and how far down you can get the per-toy costs. "

I am sure Mattel has killed more people then any aerospace company due
to its engineering mistakes. (small parts choking kids, electrical toys
starting fires, sharp parts cutting, wires choking, lead poisoning etc
etc).