If  a particular statement of work can be performed by a single, experienced individual, and the work is actionable, efforts to coordinate decision-making, report on status, and resolve breakdowns in communications can all be reduced. Unfortunately, the circumstances of projects do not always provide for taking advantage of this "army of one" tactic.

Within embedded systems development efforts, and many other complex organizational and product architectures, teamwork is essential on many fronts, including concept development, multi-level design, fabrication, construction, assembly, integration, verification, validation, and delivery. Each of these activities may bring different players, perspectives, and priorities to the effort. Over 400 years ago, Sir Francis Bacon, who first described what we call the scientific method today, described the benefits of multi-disciplinary engagements across such landscape:

The perspectives and required efforts must be coordinated in many different dimensions, often across a number of different organizations. Each may likely have - and need - unique approaches that are appropriate to each technical discipline which is employed.

As depicted in the graphic on the right (click to expand), this parallel work requires:

1. A coherent
2. The collective entities must then develop

As work is spread across cooperating organizations to accomplish a shared goal, project management will need to be performed which:

• Organizes the work being done by the team to minimize bottlenecks and highlight areas of interdependency and risk
• Provides everyone the means of thinking through and communicating the details of project commitments so that they can be successful in meeting them within the expected balance between work and personal time
• Improves the quality and timeliness of information available so that decisions, prioritization, and necessary plan adjustments can be implemented proactively rather than reactively
• Capture, maintain, and leverage an accurate assessment of the status of all active projects being done by the supported team:
  • Progress towards goals
  • Accomplishments to date
  • Tasks in-work
  • Total estimated effort required to complete all projects
  • Risks and issues
• Reduces the time required to communicate project status on a regular basis
• Establishs and collects a credible set of effort indicators to support planning future projects and to identify opportunities for improvement for:
  • Work capacity
  • Estimating factors

In Balancing Opportunities and Risks in Component-based Development, Barry Boehm and Jesal Bhuta describe the dynamic needs for manpower on projects, as depicted on the right.