Modern complex ULSI designs require significant investment of engineering resources for successful execution. At the same time, competing requirements for low cost design and faster time to market will constrain the allowable scope of a project. Experienced project managers are often able to intuitively understand the boundaries for successful program execution, but the inability to adequately quantify these relationships makes it difficult to effectively communicate the level of risk inherent in a project plan. Research into how silicon design teams balance design constraints –both at Intel and in other IC design companies – has provided empirical relationships for the limits of organizational dynamics for Integrated Circuit (IC) development.