Understanding Complex Technology Quantitatively: Impact Estimation Tables

Impact Estimation (IE) Tables allow you to analyze any technical or organizational idea (design idea) in relation to requirements (objectives) and costs (resources). IE is a more objective and more quantitative alternative to Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and other similar techniques. IE uses estimates of the percentage impacts of design ideas on requirements and costs. While IE is not a mathematically rigorous approach, the introduction of quantitative data greatly improves clarity and allows simple numeric calculations to determine cost-to-benefit ratios for design ideas and, the numeric likelihood of meeting objectives. IE also supports the planning and control of evolutionary delivery steps.