What is F.I.R.S.T? 

F.I.R.S.T.  is an acronym for Functionality, Integration, Reliability, Scalability and Teamwork!

RM Technology Systems created this acronym over 10 years ago as a team building exercise. During a particularly stressful deployment to a large insurance company in Illinois, many of the team members kept asking for a single guiding slogan. Team members wanted help to figure out what was the most important and what was unimportant.

After some meetings we came up with F.I.R.S.T., and its basic premis is to provide 5 key questions to any one on a team. It basically works like this:

An idea is brought to the table.

1. Does the idea increase Functionality? If yes, continue to

2. Does the idea Integrate well with current and the known future? If yes,
   continue to

3. Does the idea increase Reliability? If yes, continue to

4. Does the idea Scale to current and future requirements? If yes, continue
   to

5. Does the idea promote Teamwork? If yes, the idea is reviewed and
   prioritized if accepted.