Evolutionary

Of course some of the good ideas, the wild cats, will not take off. Some of our star products will be replaced by other new ones. It may be decided not to carry on milking one of the more mature products but to replace it instead. What all this means is that it is quite likely for a product, particularly in today's market, not to follow the normal life cycle but to be dropped at and earlier stage.

Contrast the classical cost curve with that in the second graph. Here the costs of developing the system are staggered over time. This stepped approach is beneficial in that it gives a faster initial implementation and also minimises any potential losses should the product be dropped.

It is all very well showing fancy diagrams and applying the terminology of management consultants. But how, in reality , can all these concepts be used in today's systems development environment?