SMALL-TEAM DEVELOPMENT IN A COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT

The telecommunications industry is undergoing rapid and continuous cha nge, To be successful in today's dynamic market, competitors must quic kly identify and embrace new opportunities, Fortunately, companies hav e at their disposal enormous amounts of data and high-speed computers that can help them analyze opportunities and hasten their entry into n ew markets. Unfortunately, the software needed to support these effort s takes precious time to design and develop, Traditional software deve lopment methodologies might not suffice in such a fast-paced environme nt, Thus, alternatives are needed to shorten response time and provide greater flexibility to market-driven changes. This paper discusses AT &T's successes with a small-team approach to software development. Rat her than maintaining separate functional organizations having well-def ined roles and responsibilities, a single, closely knit team is establ ished consisting of customers, systems engineers, and developers, The team's over-arching goal is to help AT&T customers solve business prob lems as quickly as possible.