A Method is not a Methodology

Written by Neil Johnson February 01, 2010 Hits: 508 Favorites

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Current functional verification methodologies like OVM and VMM have been critical in keeping pace with complexity in IC development. But are these technologies themselves the decisive factor when drawing the line between success and failure in functional verification? While the focus of functional verification and other aspects of IC development is generally dominated by technical challenges, teams are often overlooking the single most critical requirement for success: people.

More Than Technical Details

This is not a technical article. It does not propose any technical solutions nor does it propose technical advancement in our field. It does not it even identify or make reference to any particular technical challenges in IC development. There is nothing technical about it.

But we are engineers! We love technical challenges. We embrace technical challenges. In fact, that is likely the reason most of us became engineers in the first place. The challenge of making something new, something bigger, faster, stronger – even cheaper; that is why most of us are here.

And to be sure, there are huge technical challenges in IC development. One problem in the IC development community, however, is that some technical challenges tend to consume us, almost dangerously so, to the point where we ignore or dismiss the context of the challenge. To that end, the purpose of this article is to simply remind people that there is more to IC development than overcoming technical challenges.

To convey the point, I have chosen to launch a mild assault on a word that is becoming increasingly common in IC development. That word is methodology.

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Written by :

Neil Johnson