What does CDW mean in MILITARY

A Critical Design Walkthrough (CDW) is an evaluation technique used to assess the effectiveness of a design, providing an opportunity for stakeholders to identify potential issues early in the product development process. It is meant to help ensure that a proposed solution meets user needs, business objectives, and standards before implementation.

By involving stakeholders from different aspects of the project (e.g., users, developers, designers, testers), a CDW allows all perspectives to be heard and encourages collaboration to identify potential risks up front. This helps save resources by avoiding costly redesigns and rework later in the process.

Any stakeholders involved in planning or developing the product should be invited to participate in a CDW including designers, users, customer representatives, technical support staff, QA staff etc. Other stakeholders who could provide useful feedback would also benefit from attending such as marketers and advisors.

It depends on how quickly your project lifecycle moves - if you're working on short-term projects with tight deadlines it's recommended that you conduct CDWs on major milestones e.g., newly added features or core functionalities. However if you're working on longer-term projects which tend to have complex designs then more frequent CDWs could be beneficial for validating design decisions and finding solutions sooner rather than later.

No specific format needs to be followed when conducting a CDW; however some standard approaches do exist such as following Design Thinking techniques as well as other problem solving models like Root Cause Analysis or Risk Management Methodologies. Adapting one of these standard approaches can help guide discussions and structure review sessions.

Yes! Some key principles that can aid success include ensuring everyone involved has enough knowledge of the product/design under consideration; setting realistic expectations about what will be accomplished during each session; using data/evidence-based decision making when considering changes/modifications; making sure all stakeholders remain engaged throughout the discussion; understanding individual roles & responsibilities so that the review is efficient & productive.

Before starting it's important that you prepare your materials including product specifications & requirements documents; detailed schedule highlighting key activities & deliverables; any relevant user research; style guides detailing visual design elements & other assets used within the product design; documentation outlining existing product architecture & organization structures.

Use tools such as whiteboards or sticky notes so that everyone’s input can be easily noted down for review later by everyone involved after each session. Additionally sharing images/videos of discussions can aid remote teams who cannot attend in person sessions - these digital recordings can help ensure everyone’s ideas are captured accurately and nothing gets missed out.

Not necessarily – depending upon what outcome you wish to achieve from each session results may vary from general agreement where no changes need to take place right away through to suggestions needing further investigation or approval before they get implemented. As long as key stakeholders are aware of their roles & responsibilities throughout this process then outcomes usually remain positive.

Senior management inputs are extremely valuable when evaluating designs during a Critical Design Walkthrough since they have an overall view across many aspects which could influence how products are viewed by customers such as pricing competition etc. Therefore while their feedback may not always result in direct changes being implemented it could potentially lead members towards alternative solutions that better meet desired outcomes outlined previously.