The DeepQA team built Watson in under four years by adopting a metrics-driven research and development methodology, which we call AdaptWatson. This methodology relies heavily on disciplined integration of new and improved components, extensive experimentation at the component and end-to-end system level, informative and detailed accuracy analysis, and the efficacious application of highly skilled researchers and engineers to develop, innovate, and invent technologies that together deliver the level of performance required to solve the problem at hand. We present this methodology, highlight the key elements, and briefly compare it to the Agile software development methodology.
By: David Ferrucci, Eric Brown
Published in: RC25244 in 2012
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