This involves outlining the list of features that will be included in the product. Then we set up a development schedule to keep our team on track and begin engineering the product. We typically have several beta releases and incorporate lots of feedback as we progress toward our final build of the product. After testing, and once we are extremely confidant in the quality of the product, we release it to manufacturing. This is the last step in the process and means that the development and testing of the product is completed.
Office is an extremely popular product.
Over 200 million people use Office as their primary productivity tool. As you can imagine, there are many different types of workers with different types of needs. Determining which feature sets to deliver in a particular Office product that will offer important improvements for all of these different types of workers is the greatest challenge. Individuals using Office XP will be able to easily use and control a broader set of Office features and access information from multiple sources, including the Web and other applications. Features like Smart Tags and Task Panes will enable people to quickly synthesize, create and deliver professional-looking information and improve their overall productivity.