3.6.2 Managing Priorities: Deadline Pressure Control

This paper discusses the means of determining the priority order for implementing system changes. It is concerned with the priority ranking of requirements. Most papers and books describing trade-off analysis and multi-dimensional priority evaluation methods refer to the use of allocating subjective, fixed numeric weightings to multiple system requirements (Daniels 2001, Keeney 1992, Saaty 1990, Gilb1976). I would like to argue that it is time we threw off the shackles of subjective weightings and gave practising system engineers something more useful and realistic as a tool for determining implementation priority. Priority determination should be: an information-based process, which makes full use of the available factual information and, is able to reuse this information. a dynamic process, which uses feedback from the ongoing implementation and, is open to instigating and catering for changes in requirements and design ideas. a resource-focussed process, which considers Return on Investment (ROI) and takes into account resource availability. I would like in this paper to demonstrate how Planguage, a specification language and set of methods, which I have developed over many years, has the capability to address all these above aspects.