Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman--Including 10 More Years of Business Unusual

by Yvon Chouinard

Michael Kami refers to this team approach as concurrent, as opposed to assembly-line manufacturing, in which responsibility for one part of the process is handed off in stages to the next in line. A concurrent approach brings all participants together at the beginning of the design phase. As Dr. Kami points out, only about 10 percent of a product’s costs are incurred during the design phase, but 90 percent of the costs are irrevocably committed. The ongoing relationship beyond the design phase is critical too. Builders have been known to make on-site changes without knowing the architect’s intentions, and sewing contractors can easily compromise a rain jacket’s performance by altering construction of a seam to fit their own work habits and practices.

designer and producer: concurrent