Design process error-proofing: benchmarking the NASA development life-cycle

This report describes the practices of the development life-cycle observed at NASA. Through a number of interviews and surveys of the NASA experience, including current projects such as Aura, CALIPSO, Kepler, SAGE and SOFIA, this research attempts to capture the design methods and culture present. The NASA development methods are shared and compared with industry practices, including gated realization processes, portfolio management, and platform design. The goal of this work is to identify best practices and lessons learned from NASA´s design and review experience, benchmark against industry techniques, and develop strategies to improve the process. With better understanding of not only the execution but motivation for the current development life-cycle, any organization can better improve and error-proof its design process