Successful enterprises use evolutionary product development to keep manageable the new content and technology required for any specific product. They have found that trying to stabilize the design of a product that requires significant new content is an unmanageable task, especially if the goal is to reduce cycle times and get the product into the marketplace as quickly as possible.

Instead, they establish a time-phased plan to achieve a quantum leap in performance by developing a new product incrementally as technologies and resources become available. Design elements not achievable in the initial development are planned for subsequent generations of the product, but only when technologies are proven to be mature and resources are available.

This approach limits the design challenge for any one product development cycle by deferring risky technology, design, or manufacturing requirements to a future generation. It reduces the development risk of each increment, facilitating greater success in meeting cost, schedule, and performance requirements. Evolutionary improvements to products eventually result in the full desired capability, but in multiple steps, delivering a series of enhanced interim capabilities to the customer more quickly