Systems Engineering

2023 Predictions for Product & Systems Development Teams

By |

As we enter 2023, Jama Software® asked selected thought leaders – both internal Jama Software employees and our external partners – across various industries for the trends and events they foresee unfolding over the next year and beyond.

In the first part of our five-part series, we ask Josh Turpen, Chief Product Officer at Jama Software, to weigh in on product and systems development trends he’s anticipating in 2023.

We will link the remaining 2023 Industry Predictions as they are published. Read more about the author at end of this blog.

2023 Predictions for Product & Systems Development Teams

What product, systems, and software development trends are you expecting to take shape in 2023?

Josh Turpen: Natural Language Processing (NLP) is coming to the engineering space in a big way. Far from the “robot overlords” that have been feared, this technology is revolutionizing quality by spotting poor writing and anti-patterns as engineers are working, instead of late in the process during Root Cause Analysis (RCA) for test failures.

RELATED: Jama Connect Advisor™

In terms of product and systems development, what do you think will remain the same over the next decade? What will change?

Josh Turpen: Development will continue to struggle with the changing regulatory and security landscape. This has been a perennial problem in software and hardware is feeling it more and more with an increasingly connected ecosystem. I’m excited for tools that offer easy traceability to regulatory requirements. It makes it so much easier to validate everything from tests to requirements to regulations, ensuring that you’ve met the mark. This level of discipline should become the norm.

How do you foresee regulations shifting in product and systems development over the next decade? Or maybe just engineering, or systems engineering, in general.

Josh Turpen: Security and safety regulations for advanced technology will start coming with severe financial, and potentially criminal penalties. We’re starting to see the beginning of this, and it is high time the industry paid close attention. We’re moving beyond a point where security vulnerabilities are annoying and into a time where they will become casualty events.

Any major disruptions in product and systems development you’re anticipating in 2023?

Josh Turpen: I don’t think NLP quality linters will be a “major disruption” but more of a leading trend in quality focus in the systems engineering space.

What sorts of process adjustments do you think development teams will need to make to be successful in 2023?

Josh Turpen: The delta between those companies that have embraced a distributed workforce and those that haven’t will continue to grow. Those that still insist on collocated teams and “big meetings” for process control are going the way of the Dodo.

What do you think will be some of the differentiators between a company surviving to see 2030, and those that do not?

Josh Turpen: Embracing distributed teams and the technology that helps them be productive.

Organizations that define, measure, and improve processes are always going to outperform those that do not.

Josh Turpen: Companies that codify change into their process will dominate. They can absorb change, measure the impact, adjust accordingly and iterate. If your product development process can’t do this, it is what needs to change.

RELATED: How to Streamline Reviews and Collaborate with Remote Teams, Customers, and Suppliers with Jama Connect®

What advice would you give to new companies developing products or systems from scratch?

Josh Turpen: Define your outcomes! These can change as new information becomes available, but don’t underestimate the power of clearly stating your objective.

What topic(s) do you wish companies were paying more attention to?

Josh Turpen: Process measurement and improvement. It shocks me the number of companies that have a product failure and their “RCA” is a big meeting without data. As an industry we are awash in data and those companies that are using this data to improve will dominate.

Where do you see Jama Software fitting in as the product development landscape evolves, and what can our customers expect as 2023 approaches?

Josh Turpen: We are the recognized industry leader and have the largest repository of systems engineering data on the planet. New capabilities built on that data, like the Jama Connect Advisor™
and our Industry Benchmarks are just the beginning of the journey. New capabilities to spot process issues and anti-patterns are on the horizon.

About the Author:
Josh Turpen, Chief Product Officer, Jama Software

With a deep background in software development and consulting, Josh oversees the ongoing innovation and refinement of Jama Software’s core product offerings. Beginning as an engineer, Josh’s career has taken him from Indiana to Germany, Colorado, and Portland. His work with the U.S. Department of Defense solidified his knowledge of safety-critical systems, and the vital role requirements and risk management plays within them. Having led product and engineering organizations, with teams distributed across the globe, Josh understands the daily challenges our customers face in a constantly changing marketplace and the tools they need to be successful.

Decoteau Wilkerson
Latest posts by Decoteau Wilkerson (see all)