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When you hear the term “collaboration” in reference to IC
design what comes to mind? Is it multiple physical design locations
working on the same project? Or is it the ability of a design team to
work well together, or maybe a combination of both? The dictionary
definition of collaboration is “to work jointly with others, especially
in an intellectual endeavor”.
The definition is fairly generic and says nothing about
physical location(s), excellence, approach, predictability,
synchronization, expected results or that the “others” even agree on a
common strategy. However, in chip design these items are essential
components of successful project collaboration and achieving them is
the subject of this newsletter.
Jeff Jorvig, IC Design Process Coach
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JCI News |
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Our “Design Planning Webinar held on the 20th of last
month is now available as an onsite 2 hour workshop with your team.
Hardcopy material is also available for purchase. More
Information...
IC Design Team coaching Blog established for discussions
related to the management of IC design teams. To the blog...
Watch for my article in the upcoming issue of Chip Design
Magazine titled “Eliminate Unmanaged Design Activities to
Improve Project Predictability”.
Don't miss the awesome coupon offer at the end!
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Components of Successful Collaborative Design Efforts |
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If you believe I am going to identify the ideal software
product(s) that will make multi-site collaborative design projects a
blazing success, you are missing a fundamental concept about
collaboration. Successful design collaboration is about managing
people. The primary emphasis must be placed on maximizing individual
contribution, or your efforts will be certain to produce disappointing
results. Management complexity increases greatly when the collaborative
effort spans multiple countries, further amplifying the necessity of
superior people management skills to bind the team as a single entity.
Team Unity
Team unity begins with an altering of the entire teams mind set from
one of “us and them” to “we”. This is the primary hurdle and it will be
the largest challenge. Without addressing this major barrier to true
collaborative efforts, your projects will be filled with faultfinding,
limited information sharing, lack of trust and an attitude of
protecting “my” knowledge. Evolving the team towards a unified front
starts with a change in the way you make reference to the collaborative
team. The foremost step towards team unity is by only referring to the
team as “we” and the avoidance of singling out a team subset by
functional or physical boundaries. Secondly, include the broad
collaborative team in any verbal or written discussions related to
planning, strategies, decisions, risk mitigation, meetings or
summaries. Focus on these two points and you will find that
implementation is simple, change is gradual and results are profound.
Communication
In any quality collaborative team the communication dynamics are well
defined and effectively utilized. A rigorous system and/or process must
be in place to ensure that the entire team understands objectives,
deliverable requirements and timeline expectations. If anything on the
project changes, a technical obstacle comes up or requirements are
modified the team must flawlessly be involved. An environment that
depends on hallway discussions to manage a project will quickly
diminish the effectiveness of any collaborative effort. A reliance on
one on one verbal communications excludes parties that may have a
vested interest in the topic. Small group discussions also fails to
keep the team properly synchronized and erodes the team unity. Keeping
an emphasis on information flow and sharing will provide a simple path
towards genuine collaboration.
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Strategies for Strengthening Collaborative Teams |
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With the proper focus of collaborative efforts on people
management, consideration of methods to strengthen the collaborative
communications is in order. Again, if the proper foundation on people
management is not first established, the following strategies will fail
to provide results that include a high degree of design execution
predictability.
Deliverables
A lack of clarity in expected deliverables from team participants is an
area that often disrupts the design plan. Projects that span multiple
physical locations suffer greater from a lack of deliverable clarity as
a result of an inhibited casual learning experience. The deliverable
landscape to be addressed must go beyond typical items such as
electrical specs or pins. Consider tools and versions, models, symbol
pin requirements, validation requirements, sources of stimulus, risk
mitigation strategies, simulation matrices, chip environment
challenges, supply ripple/noise, loading requirements etc. There are
many right ways to do design; an efficient collaborative effort will
align the team to the same right way, paving the way for smooth chip
level integration. I suggest developing templates (word processing or
web based) that act as guides for analog, digital and chip level
deliverables for a project. More
about design guides...
Individual Expectations
A thorough understanding of every team member’s requirements for
deliverables to them is another area that will be found in successful
collaborative efforts. Although you may not be able to address every
need, you absolutely must make an effort in understanding each members
wishes and the reasons behind them. I use the term “unknown” to refer
to any team member expectations that remain unidentified to the
majority of the team. The effort in “discovering” the unknowns will be
well worth it in providing a smooth, predictable path during design
execution. Keep the breadth of discovering unknowns broad by including
product engineering, test, program management and the business in your
search. Talk to individuals to find what you don’t know about potential
deliverable enhancements that would enable them to operate at a higher
level of individual productivity. What you don’t know (unknowns) is
what is inhibiting an ideal level of collaboration. More about
unknowns...
Planning
The absolute number one priority in planning a collaborative project is
that it be done in an open forum with a large cross section of the
team. Locking in the details of predecessor expectations, deliverables
and timing via a large group forum will provide the essential
ingredients of a schedule; acceptance, accuracy and predictability. As
you plan, consider items that facilitate design database
synchronization and module level change management as well as other
best practices that will ensure a high level of deliverable
understanding among the team. If you don’t plan it in detail, you can’t
have any expectations about what your going to receive from the team as
the chip integration commences!
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Speak Out |
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We Need your Input
This section is available to readers that have something to say about
what I have written or general comments on IC design process
management. Email me
your
brief letter and include your name(or anonymous), title and company for
possible publication in a future newsletter.
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