Product development a chunk at a time

"Chunking" is a product development discipline developed and successfully used at XSoft in the development of InConcert, a software product for workflow management. In chunking, teams of 4-8 developers are assigned to develop a set of related product features in a fixed amount of time, measured in weeks. The team begins with requirements definition and carries development through to unit test. The team can adjust the delivered functionality, but not the schedule. Complex feature-sets are developed in multiple chunks. The benefits of chunking are a high degree of control over cost and schedule, and a high quality product based on developer's understanding of customer requirements. The paper reviews the chunking discipline and explores some pragmatic issues encountered while developing InConcert. The advantages and disadvantages of chunking are recounted from the perspective of various groups involved in product development: engineering, marketing, quality assurance and management.