Teradyne Case

Teradyne is a world leader in the semiconductor industry and specializes in testing equipment for transistors and other electrical components. However, over the years, the production process of Teradyne's customers had dramatically changed, as platforms became more complicated and costly to develop. Therefore the company decided to implement a critical project - Jaguar - which would represent a major change in strategy and decisive to maintain the company's competitive edge. In addition to the change in strategic direction and technology, this project represented a significant departure from Teradyne's traditional project execution strategy including increased emphasis on up-front planning and design, reorganization of project team structure, the introduction of prescriptive project management processes, and use of formalized project management tools. These changes were more than simply process changes; they required changes to core cultural values.

In the past, projects at Teradyne were poorly planned. Goals, scope, and milestones were not clearly defined, schedules were sloppy, and there was no systematic method for tacking project progress. This would result in product introductions often late to market which suffered for poor quality and reliability problems. Because of its strategic importance and critical delivery date, Jaguar required rigorous planning and a clearly defined scope.

The company had implemented a "phase-gate" model for development projects in order to provide well-defined milestones and review points. Senior management signed off on the Phase II "Project and Product Planning" gate only after the Jaguar team compiled a 75-page presentation detailing the proposed system architecture, design, and functional specifications, target performance specifications, and the project execution plan. This resulted in some discomfort and frustration among team members who preferred less detailed planning