The product engineering process I run for software, hardware, and hybrid systems. It is evidence gated and iterative. Every stage has exit criteria, every decision is recorded, and any result can send the work back. That is by design.
Work moves clockwise, and the last stage feeds the first. The orange diamonds mark the two decision gates where the work can change direction. Select a stage for its purpose, activities, a worked example, and its exit criteria.
The loop shows the lifecycle. This shows the control flow: every path a gate decision can send the work down.
Choose a turn to trace its path in the chart, or a stage in the chart to read about it.
Swipe sideways to see the whole chart.
The configuration item is a tagged commit, a dependency lock, and an environment configuration. Reproduction is a deterministic build.
The configuration item is a drawing revision, a bill of materials, and the serialized unit built from them.
Hardware, firmware, and app are verified as one named configuration. Change one element, and every dependent test is flagged for regression.
Bring the user, the context of use, and the failure you keep seeing. Discovery starts there.