Mission-critical and safety-critical development

Abstract

The concern in mission-critical and safety-critical systems is that you develop them thoughtfully and carefully. They need traceable evidence for every detail. Like a good journalist, you and your team must establish the who, what, when, where, why, and how in everything you do. Development of mission- and safety-critical systems requires a temporal progression, regardless of the development model. Generally, there are five phases to development. These are: concept; planning and scheduling; design and development; controlled release; commercial release. Another issue in mission- and safety-critical system is people. People make processes work or not work. Good, disciplined people can struggle, even under wretched conditions, and produce good results. Add reasonable processes, and these same people can produce great results. Unfortunately, outstanding processes cannot rescue a project from unruly and undisciplined people.