CPEM

Innovation Project Planning

Posted on 01.26.22

Project planning is a best practice. We all plan big projects at work that involve construction or R&D effort. We create project plans when there is a requirement for integration of many functions and the coordination of multiple tasks.

Types of Project Plans

Traditionally, project plans are created based on the scope of work. We estimate the tasks necessary to complete the project and calculate the duration of each activity. Next, we assign resources by function and name to each task. The output is a pre-determined project plan with a critical path of tasks and expected resources that show how quickly the project can be executed.

In an Agile framework, project planning uses progressive elaboration. As in traditional project planning, we determine a list of requirements upfront. However, in Scrum (the most common Agile implementation for innovation and tangible new product development, NPD) we determine product features necessary to satisfy the end-user’s application. A rank-ordered list of features prioritizes project execution based upon developing the most important features first.

Scrum estimates are usually relative and compared to tasks with known duration and cost. For example T-shirt sizing (small, medium, and large) is a common way of estimating Agile projects. In this example, relative sizes are based upon known standards and each feature development is estimated relative to that standard.

Visualizing the Project Plan

In traditional project management, the output is typically a Gantt chart showing task relationships and duration. The critical path represents all tasks that must be completed on schedule to prevent the entire project schedule from slipping. These tasks are often resource-constrained, as projects rely on experts to do specialized product development work. In other cases, vendor-supplied equipment and customer use tests can be limiting factors.

In Scrum, the project schedule is not usually illustrated as a whole. A product roadmap shows major feature releases for the product, often in conjunction with other products, services, and applications. Task level planning is done by the team using the prioritized feature list. Team members score the difficulty (and duration) of tasks needed to complete a specific feature. A technique called “planning poker” helps the team reach consensus on the “size” of these tasks (e.g. relative sizing of small, medium, or large).

For operational work of the NPD team, a Kanban board (sometimes called a Scrum board) shows tasks assigned to the sprint. As work is completed during a Sprint, a symbol of the task (usually a short description written on a sticky note) is moved from columns on the Kanban board indicating workto-do, work-in-progress, testing, and completed.

At a higher level, all of the “story points” or scores of the relative estimates for product design are added. As each feature is completed, its score is subtracted from the total. Thus the “burndown” chart shows an estimate of work remaining in each Sprint. The burndown chart may be used in conjunction with the Kanban chart or these tools can be deployed separately.

Adjusting the Project Plan

Of course, no project plan is accurate or perfect. The minute we put pencil to paper, the schedule is apt to change. In traditional project management, a Change Control Board reviews major project changes according to the advice of the project manager. In Scrum (Agile), changes to the project scope are expected, resulting in the iterative nature of the system. Tasks not completed in one sprint are added to the “backlog” of the next sprint. This is reflected in a lower-than-planned burndown rate as well as increased work-in-progress on the Kanban board. NPD teams must be concerned if this backlog is too high.

Planning Projects

Innovation projects, construction projects, and engineering projects all require planning. We must anticipate the requirements, the schedule, and the cost. These estimates help decision-makers and project leaders determine investments and to assess tolerable risk levels. Project plans indicate whether a project can achieve benefits that outweigh costs.

Consider the following elements as you plan your next innovation project:

Scope of work,
Number and complexity of features,
Necessary tasks and activities to do the work,
Resources available and skilled to do the work,
Realistic project schedules indicating duration (not just effort) of each task,
How to assess changes, and
Risk management.

Learn More

Project planning is foundational to effective project selection and should be directly linked to Product Portfolio Management for innovation work. Please join me starting 7 February 2002 for a once-per-year unique opportunity to apply 100 Days to Effective PPM in your teams. Register here.

If you’re interested in learning more about hybrid project planning (traditional waterfall blended with Agile/Scrum), please join me for WAGILE Product Development on 15 and 17 February 2022. Register here.

What is Innovation?

Posted on 10.28.21

Click on the image to watch a short summary video, then read on!

Innovation is one of the most over-used buzzwords of today. I wrote about this previously in 2013! (Read Introduction to Disruptive Innovation here.) Yet, innovation – as a word – continues to be bandied about as a solution to all problems but also as a mysterious, perhaps magical, process. In this post, I hope to break down the word “innovation” to a set of practical and actionable steps that help businesses accomplish growth without all the hype.

New Way of Doing Something

Innovation encompasses a new way of successfully doing something. Note the specific use of the word “success”. If we try a new way to do something and it fails, we are learning but we have not innovated. Failing is part of the innovation process, yet it is not the end goal of innovation.

Process innovation often involves new ways of doing something. In manufacturing, we might be able to skip a step by combining forming and assembly or by using pre-printed packaging. These actions are usually considered “cost-saving”, but when we involve a new way of executing the action, it is clearly defined as a process innovation.

We also see product innovations and perhaps these are the more common goal of corporate innovation programs. New product development (NPD) is a subset of innovation in which we design and develop new product innovations. Again, the new product is helping consumers and end-users “do something in a new way,” but is focused on tangible features and product attributes.

In recent times, product innovations have begun to incorporate the changes and additions in software code. Almost all tangible products also include software in some capacity. Coding introduces changes in how a product (hardware or software) functions, and thus, can be innovative. However, we must be very careful to not confuse bug fixes as “innovative”. End-users don’t want mistakes in the product in the first place, so a bug fix is not adding value.

Social and Political Innovations

Some innovations cause us to do something in a new way because society expects it or because government regulations restrict the old way of doing something. As an example, the US Government restricted the sale of incandescent light bulbs a few years ago. Consumers were certainly not clamoring for a new way to light their homes, especially since incandescent light bulbs are cheaper than alternatives. Yet a change in government policy forced to change in behavior; this defines a “political innovation”. Such innovations may not add value to either the consumer or producer but are necessary for the business to sustain itself.

Adoption of New Technology

Many process and product innovations result from the adoption of new technology. Advances in technology allow producers to manufacture goods in more cost-effective ways and to add features to products. Technology allows processes to become more efficient, so that manufacturers can make products with fewer quality defects and at increased rates. Technology has served to stimulate innovation significantly.

For instance, computer-controlled manufacturing processes allow assembly lines to move at a quicker pace. Technology, such as lasers and cameras, can evaluate quality of products during manufacturing without the cost of destructive testing. Increased resource utilization by managing the supply chain and distribution with technical innovations also result in cost-savings shared between consumers and manufacturers.

Application of New Knowledge

Finally, innovation involves the application of knowledge to new situations as well as the growth of knowledge. When we apply a solution from one domain to another, by transferring knowledge, the result is innovation.

One of my favorite examples of innovation from new knowledge is Velcro. Legend has it that the inventor studied lizards and other critters that creep and crawl in vertical surfaces. Transferring knowledge of how their little feet are able to “stick” to these surfaces allowed him to conceive a new way to attach two items together. What knowledge are you holding that contained a product or process?

Defining Innovation

Innovation is a new way of doing something by application of technology or knowledge to improve a process or product in such a way that it adds value for both the end-user and the producer. Innovation is a new way of doing something but that “something” doesn’t have to be radical or unique. Transferring our knowledge and experience between and among industries often leads to a new way of doing something.

Do you want to learn an effective process for design of innovation? Join me, starting on 1 December, for the by-request Creativity Master Class. Register here.

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

Creative Perspectives

Posted on 10.06.21

Many of us don’t believe we are creative. After early elementary school, we have learned there are rules, and we spend a lot of time complying with those rules. Not only are there rules about spelling and arithmetic, but there are societal “rules” about the clothes we wear and things we say. All these rules serve to stamp out creativity.

Yet, we need creative solutions to the many challenging problems we face in business today. Creativity is not just painting a new scene or writing a novel; creativity is finding unique alternatives and expressions to address real-world discomforts. For product innovation professionals, we must find creative solutions to customer and end-user problems that deliver value to them and profit to our firms.

Creative Solutions

In new product development (NPD), the first place to start to identify a creative solution is to understand the problem. Very often, we assume that we know what challenges and difficulties our customers face. And, very often, we are wrong.

Understanding customer problems means we need to spend time with them and to follow their actions. Design Thinking offers several tools and a methodology to build empathy with customers and end users. The methodology is reflected in the simple, two-step process shown in the figure. (Read about Design Thinking in Chapter 2 of The Innovation ANSWER Book, 2^nd edition.) Empathy means we understand their thoughts and feelings as much as we understand the technical points of their problems.

An Example

To find creative and empathetic product solutions, we have to fully identify with the customer and end-user. Most people working in NPD are in the prime of their life, maybe 30 to 50 years old. Suppose you are designing and developing products for the elderly. How can you build empathy for their problems?

Using Design Thinking tools, product innovation professionals observe the customer. You can spend time with your grandma or an elderly neighbor and watch as they prepared dinner. Are jars difficult to open for someone with arthritis? Does she have trouble reading small print on the recipe? Can she safely lift a heavy pan from the oven?

Once you have some clues to the real problem from observation, you can begin to develop creative solutions. You can test your prototypes under simulated conditions to quickly evaluate concepts to move forward while eliminating the less – then – promising ideas.

For the elderly person, you can wear gloves or tape your fingers to mimic arthritis. Put on a scratched-up pair of sunglasses and try to read the recipe yourself. Simulate the relative “heaviness” of a pan with a 40-lb. bag of sand. Your own frustrations will translate to better product solutions for this customer!

Learning Creativity

It seems somewhat odd that actually need to “learn creativity”. Society force fits uniformity and often discourages creative interpretation. Yet, as product innovation professionals, we need to approach problems from new perspectives and with open viewpoints. Especially if the customers’ needs are far from our experiences and background, we need to apply Design Thinking tools to build empathy. We really need to understand the thoughts and feelings of the end-user.

Do you want to learn to be more creative? Join our creativity master class starting on 1 December. Register Here.

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

About Me

I am inspired by writing, speaking, and coaching. I tackle life with an infusion of rigor, zeal, and faith. It brings me joy to help you build innovation leaders. Teresa Jurgens-Kowal is an experienced innovation professional with a passion for lifelong learning with a PhD in Chemical Engineering and an MBA in Computer and Information Decision Making. My credentials include PE (State of Louisiana), NPDP, PMP®, and CPEM, and I am a DiSC® certified facilitator. Contact me at [email protected] or area code 281 + phone 787-3979 for more information on coaching for entrepreneurs and innovators.

This was first published on the blog at www.Simple-PDH.com. Follow me on Twitter @globalnpd.

Lessons for a Young Innovator

Posted on 09.29.21

Recently I was the keynote speaker for the Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Symposium at University of Washington (go huskies!). I am so honored that my alumni university asked me to share my career journey with smart and ambitious students. Of course, I wondered “What on earth can I talk about?” since my usual presentations are more technical and geared toward product, project, and engineering managers

So, I decided to present what I wish I could have told my younger self knowing what I know today. I also realized that my own career has had (so far) three periods of time that roughly correlate with what I wish I had known earlier. I’ll share these three items with you and I hope that you can apply these to your creative endeavors.

Be Expectant

Being expectant means to be ready for surprises. It means everything will not stay as it is today. In my early career, I thought every job was stable and routines would not change. Of course this was a naïve view of jobs and careers.

Product innovation managers also must be expectant. Fads, trends, markets, and technologies change constantly. Effective new product development (NPD) requires expecting changes. Successful NPD means you plan for changes in advance and can introduce product solutions that solve customer problems when they occur. Expectancy means planning to deliver value for your customers and your firm regardless of market turmoil.

Be Open

In my mid-career, I was completely taken off-guard by corporate politics. I had no idea that peak engineering and managerial performance mattered little to folks centered on personal ego and greed. A hard lesson, but it taught me to be open to new possibilities and to think broadly about alternatives.

As product innovation professionals, we always need open minds. I love Carol Dweck’s book on mindsets – she teaches us that if we think we can, we can. The concepts of fixed and growth mindsets help us to recognize barriers and opportunities.

This positive and open mindset helps us recognize true problems facing customers. We can then develop the best set of features and attributes through co-creation. It is not enough to put a band-aid on a product and hope for the best. Nor is it our job as innovators to simply add features whether or not our paying customers need or want these functions. Being open to all possibilities makes us more creative and better problem solvers.

Be Bold

In a master mind group on Design Thinking a few years ago, I asked participants to select values that meant the most to them personally and for their work life. I commented that I wasn’t even sure what “bold” as a value meant. A friend and very smart colleague in ITs said, “You are bold. You just did a triathlon.” Okay, I’m a nerd, and the triathlon was a big goal for me, stretching me to uncomfortable physical limits (literally). And in Full disclosure, it was a sprint triathlon – a baby step for true athletes.

As product innovation professionals, we must be bold. We must take calculated risks in the design and development of new products and services. We have to ask tough questions of our customers, suppliers, and partners. And to be bold, we must be expectant and open.

Be Expectant, Be Open, Be Bold

As a chemical engineer, I agree that society categorizes me as a nerd. I certainly do have some nerdy habits and traits. But engineers are also excellent at trouble-shooting and problem-solving. We are creative in that sense. We can build the solutions needed for successful product innovation.

How can you be expectant, open, and bold? I encourage you to amp up your creativity, to tap into new possibilities, view the world from new perspectives, and to try new things on a journey of a lifelong learning. Your first step is to join me in the Special Creativity Workshop on Friday, 1 October 2021 from 10 am to 12 pm CDT. Register here.

Also be sure to stop by and say “hi” at my booth! Global NP Solutions is sponsoring the PDMA Annual Conference in Baltimore on 13-16 November.

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

Hybrid Work – Two Views

Posted on 09.07.21

As people go back to the office (or continue to work from home), we are faced with challenges for innovation. A lot of businesses have spent the past 18 months in survival mode – just trying to keep the doors open, regardless of the cost. Many companies had workforce reductions, cut benefits, and did more with less. Now, labor is rapidly becoming available but is expensive and some local regulations continue to stifle growth.

Regardless of the situation that a firm faces from a labor and productivity perspective, leaders cannot ignore necessary innovation. After such a long period of cost-cutting and tight budgets, the winners will be those organizations that creatively adapt to a hybrid workplace while generating novel products and services for their customers.

What is Hybrid Work?

As we wrote about in Bridging Communication Gaps in Virtual Teams (Leveraging Constraints for Innovation, 2018), dispersed teams involve one or more people at different locations. Hybrid work may include one-to-many or many-to-many arrangements. This means every individual is working in a remote office, or some people are in the office together while others are working by themselves in remote locations.

The benefit of hybrid work to product innovation is that new product development (NPD) can address both local and global needs. Effective product design and development from dispersed teams follows the Virtual Team Model with five elements and 16 practices.

Work Tasks

Project teams work on two types of tasks: transactional and relational. A transactional task can be completed by an individual with little input from others. Communication to finish the activity is asynchronous. Transactional tasks include data gathering, analysis and summary. Calculations and many experiments are transactional in nature.

Most innovation work activities involving quantitative evaluation are transactional. For example, analyzing the data from a customer survey uses statistics, can be conducted by a lone team member, and is quantitative in nature. Remote team members can easily complete transactional project activities.

On the other hand, strategic questions and new product design parameters are relational work tasks. These activities require dialogue, shared experiences, and creative approaches to problem-solving. Relational tasks are best accomplished in an interactive environment.

For example, determining if the organization will expand the product line to a new market involves a great deal of discussion to ensure the move will align with the organization’s strategy. Information – including quantitative data – must be discussed, debated, and evaluated in a live (synchronous) environment.

Relational work is best performed in a face-to-face environment. However, it is possible – with a trained facilitator – to achieve desired outcomes of relational work with a hybrid work team.

Creativity in Hybrid Teams

First, teams must have established “emotional” trust. As discussed by Rosenfeld, et al. emotional trust is necessary from team members to take risks. Any innovation work is risky because the outcomes are uncertain. Emotional trust is built through longer working relationships so that each team member knows that others will meet their expectations.

Next, hybrid teams can be creative in relational and strategic planning for NPD. Again, a good facilitator can support a hybrid team to generate creative ideas through guided exercises. A favorite ideation activity is “brainwriting” using an online whiteboard. (For more information, see this post.) These creative endeavors are most successful with both individual and collaborative elements.

Finally, hybrid teams can prepare for innovation work with good planning. Using limited synchronous meetings for relation-building and creative work is beneficial. Save the one-way management communications of schedule and budget for newsletters and email. Both are great for transactional information sharing among dispersed team members. You want to preserve your limited time together for creative endeavors that require deep relationships.

Building a Creative Hybrid Team

You will need to assess which work tasks are transactional and which are relational on your project. Early NPD work needs the creative vibe of synchronous and relational dialogue. Get your team together in one place to diagnose customer problems, align strategic goals, and generate ideas.

Later stages of experimentation and design of a new product or service can be accomplished with dispersed and remote teams. Make sure the expertise of your team members includes individual leadership skills. Task-oriented leaders use one-way communication for project status reporting and reserve live meetings for creative discussion.

Learn More

Join my upcoming presentations at AIChE on 3 September 2021, Texas ACMP Annual Conference on 17 September 2021, and ASQ Innovation Day on 15 October 2021. You can also register for our very affordable (and FUN) creativity workshop on 1 October. You will learn and practice generating new ideas in a remote, live, facilitated 2-hour workshop. Contact me at [email protected] for details. Register here.

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

Four Elements of Creativity

Posted on 07.22.21

Product innovation is a fabulous field in which to work. Innovation mixes several interesting ingredients – markets, technologies, creativity – to generate products that are valued by customers. In turn, companies generate profits when they deliver products and services to consumers that delight and inspire them.

Researching markets and technologies is deliberate and structured within product innovation. Product managers use inquiry tools and statistical analysis to understand categories of customers as well as to pinpoint areas of opportunity. R&D practitioners analyze experiments and data to design novel technical solutions. Market research and technology development both follow specific processes with known performance metrics.

Yet, creativity if often shrouded in mystery. Many people assume they are not creative because they don’t view themselves as “artists”. Others claim that only wild-eyed scientific geniuses are creative, coming up with ideas like a lightning strike. In truth, creativity for product innovation is also a structured process with four key elements.

Cross-Functional Teams

There are two elements to creativity from a people perspective – individual and team creativity. As individuals we all have different experiences and bring that diversity when generating ideas for new products. Individuals with various work skills and backgrounds “see” the problem differently. For example, a marketing specialist might define the problem in terms of product awareness while a technology specialist might see the problem as a set of puzzles and a technical code that will unlock the solution.

Higher levels of creativity occur, however, when we collaborate as a team. The marketer cannot successfully deliver innovation on his own by simply raising product awareness. The technologists cannot deliver a new product by simply designing a great piece of hardware. Instead, when we combine the viewpoints of a cross functional team, we can generate truly radical innovations. Sharing the different perspectives of a problem – from the customer’s viewpoint as well as from each team members standpoint – enhances creativity and the end solution.

Boundaries

While it seems counter-intuitive, creativity increases when we place reasonable constraints around the problem. You might dream about your weekend plans if you had infinite money and no restrictions on your time. Perhaps a trip to an exotic beach or taking in a Broadway show would be on the agenda? Yet our dreams of limitless wealth are not actionable.

Teams are most successful in identifying creative product solutions when there are some boundaries around the problem space. Having infinite funds or unlimited time opens every possibility and too many choices can be overwhelming. Instead, your weekend plans must be creative if you can only spend $100 and have two fixed time commitments. Maybe you take the kids to the zoo just after their Little League game. It’s a fun and unusual family activity while solving the problem within the given constraints.

Curiosity

It goes without saying that curiosity must be a key element of creativity. The status quo cannot serve to grow a business or to generate innovative products over the long-term. Creative curiosity is a desire – a passion – to figure out how things work. In new product development, the marketing representative is curious about the problems consumers face and the technical representative is curious about how to build a widget to solve that problem. Creative curiosity is always looking for ways to improve a system and searching for the “real” problem.

Are you curious? How do you approach a new opportunity? Creative curiosity involves jumping in to quickly learn the who, what, why, and how of a problem.

Learning

The final element of creativity is learning – learning from failure and learning from each other. Not every idea works out as we planned. Sometimes our ideas are too radical for an existing market. Oftentimes, we cannot find the cost-effective technology to scale for commercial application. These are “failures” by one definition, yet there are also opportunities for learning. Each piece of knowledge stacks up to help us solve the next problem, even if one particular approach didn’t work out perfectly.

Another aspect of creative learning regards quality. A lot of us are perfectionists because of our passion and love for our customers and career. Yet, sometimes, good enough is good enough. When a famous artist changes his style from realism to abstract, he might learn new techniques and learn to be satisfied with the quality of each new painting, even though it isn’t perfect. A mystery author can add new twists and turns to the story line, depth of characters to her text, but the book must be written in order to be read and appreciated. Learning to define “done” is an important feature for creativity within the bounds of product innovation.

Four Elements of Creativity

A lot of people I know claim they are not creative. This is troubling since I know a lot of people working in new product development. Everyone can be creative. I suggest you start with these four key elements of creativity.

Use a cross-functional team to build empathy across many different perspectives.
Place loose boundaries around the problem space to enhance creativity.
Encourage curiosity by offering new options and seeking to deeply understand the problem.
Practice continuous learning and accept failure by recognizing that good enough is good enough.

Creativity starts with leadership. Please join our best practices Master Class on Leadership for Project Managers starting 18 August. Register here.

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

Project Controls in Innovation

Posted on 04.29.21

Controlling is often a misunderstood management function. In everyday use, we use the term “controlling” to mean manipulating or limiting other’s behavior. Yet in engineering management, project management, and new product development (NPD), controlling is an important process that helps the team leader assess the performance of a project and of his or her team.

Definition of Controlling

Let’s define controlling as follows, consistent with the American Society of Engineering Management (ASEM).

“A management function of measuring performance and comparing the results with established standards to ensure that the work conforms to requirements and brings a desired outcome.”

Defined in this way, controlling is a critical function that assures work meets expectations. If at any time, the project outcomes are not meeting expectations, we make adjustments to bring the product or project work into alignment with the plan.

Steps in Controlling

There are typically four steps that product and project managers follow in controlling.

Set a baseline,
Measure performance,
Compare the baseline against performance measures, and
Take corrective action as necessary.

Set a Baseline

In project management and NPD, setting baselines for performance should be easy. In reality, however, setting baselines requires substantial planning effort on behalf of the project leader. The baseline must reflect the best outcome of project planning. Principles of project management dictate that during the initiation phase, the project leader and team members identify requirements from all project stakeholders. Gathering and documenting project requirements ensures that stakeholder expectations can be met.

In innovation projects, customer needs are documented in the PIC (product innovation charter). During all stages of the structured NPD process, the innovation project team will test customer needs to ensure alignment with the product design. One way in which to map customer needs to engineering design specs is to use the QFD tool (quality function deployment). Read more about process design here.

Measure Performance

In Step 2 of controlling, we measure the performance of engineering and project teams. Here, both individual and team member performance are assessed as well as the project requirements. For example, if a new product development project had a customer requirement to increase battery life by 50%, the engineering team would measure all new battery designs against the performance standard. A new battery with just 20% increase in lifetime would be inadequate, while a battery with a life that is 48% longer is considered a successful technology. The project is approved when it meets the technical hurdles and would move along in the NPD process.

image from creative commons with free to share and use

Compare Baseline Against Performance

In Step 3 of controlling, the project leader and project team members assess the project performance by comparing current design elements against the baseline set forth in the project plan. It is important to ensure that the baseline and product performance requirements are measurable so that this comparison is meaningful. Objectives are stated in measurable terms and metrics are gathered without difficulty or subject to opinion or interpretation.

Again, for instance, battery life extension of 50% is measurable. The initial battery in the current product demonstrates an average of 3-hour life before requiring a recharge. Sample batteries in lab tests demonstrate 4-hour, 4.2-hours and 4.4-hours. These data points are easy to compare to the initial product performance level. The product development and innovation teams strive for measurable goals and objectives to improve customer satisfaction.

Take Corrective Action

At the heart of the controlling process is the idea that correcting errors early leads to higher quality products and that the development effort will be less expensive overall. Thus, the final step in the controlling function is to take action based on analysis of the data from Step 3. In the case where performance matches expectations and baseline plans, no action is required.

Frequently, controlling will reveal that a project is over-budget and/or behind schedule. In these situations, the project manager and sponsor must work with the customer to modify the plan. Some tools are available to help accomplish the work within the required time frame, but these schedule adaptations normally require additional costs (e.g. crashing and compression). Further, missing the timeline for a new product launch can impact the overall profitability of an innovative new product.

Controlling Function

In engineering management, project management and new product development, controlling is an important management function. The four steps in controlling are: (1) set a baseline, (2) measure performance, (3) compare the baseline against performance, and (4) take corrective action as appropriate. To learn more about the controlling function and other ways to improve new product project execution, you must earn your New Product Development Professional (NPDP) certification. Check out our training and speaking schedule for innovation and project management here.

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

Can Nerds Serve the Customer?

Posted on 04.22.21

I’m a self-admitting nerd. My educational background is in engineering and I enjoy learning how things fit together. I love to watch movies, but I never know the names of actors or actresses. I fail miserably at the literature questions in Trivial Pursuit™.

Yet, I love math, logic, and reasoning. In recent years my fondness to “figure out how things work” has become a study of people, leaders, and teams. Successful innovation teams have a different culture than others.

A friend and colleague mentioned that her son was studying mechanical engineering. She encouraged him to take a Design Thinking class so he could learn about human-centered design. I agree wholeheartedly with her! Engineers have an isolated educational experience driven by high-level calculus an intense theory of physics. Of course, accountants, sociologists, and architects also have educational experiences driven by depth of knowledge, rather than breadth.

So, can nerds learn to serve the customer?

The Customer

First, we have to take a step back. Any free economy functions to produce goods and services that generate profit for the seller. Buyers pay a price for goods and services that give them utility and functionality at their own perceived value. The buyer (or customer) seeks a benefit in purchasing a product that is greater than the price they pay. Moreover, the price that the buyer pays must include a margin of profit for the producer. If not, the producer will cease to offer those goods or services.

A seller learns what to sell by studying customers and markets. Customers are the key element in designing and developing new products. My friend was very astute to encourage her son to broaden his studies beyond engineering. New Product Development Professionals (NPDP) blend the unique skills of technology understanding, market perception, and product knowledge to successfully innovate profitable goods and services.

Engineers, like other innovation leaders, have an intense curiosity about how things work. Yes, we are nerds because we enjoy tinkering and troubleshooting. So, trying to solve a customer’s problem by designing a new widget is exactly a perfect fit!

Design Thinking

Again, my friend gave her son a huge gift toward his employability by encouraging him to supplement engineering classes with Design Thinking. Design Thinking is both a process and a set of tools. From the process perspective, Design Thinking teaches us to collaborate with fellow nerds, customers, and any function that will help solve the problem. From the tools point of view, Design Thinking gives us templates and techniques to elicit even the most obscure unarticulated customer needs.

At the core of Design Thinking is empathy – an understanding of the feelings, thoughts, and attitudes of another person. In the case of product development, the product development engineers build empathy for the customers by interviewing, shadowing, and observing their interactions with the product. When we understand the struggle that a customer has to open a package or assemble the parts, we improve the features and functions of that product.

For example, IKEA includes a small (cheap) hex wrench with its ready-to-assemble furniture (such as a bookshelf). The packaging is small (a benefit to customers and transportation) but only nerds have a full tool chest available to assemble a bookshelf. So, for most folks, the cheap hex wrench is a huge time-saver. Parts are clearly labeled and the visual instruction sheet from IKEA gives simple directions to assemble the parts using the tools (hex wrench) provided. Both the seller and buyer benefit – higher profit margins and enhanced perception of the product’s value.

Engineers and Design Thinking

Yes, nerds can serve the customer! Engineers are great at trouble-shooting and finding creative solutions to problems. Augmenting our technical training with customer empathy creates a superhero innovation leader.

If you don’t know the basic tools and process of design thinking, that’s okay. Register here for an interactive, online workshop, led by a full-fledged nerd.

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

Innovation in the Product Life Cycle

Posted on 04.08.21

I recently ran across notes I had taken while reading a book that summarized management skills. I no longer remember the title or author’s name, but the book was an overview of all the subjects covered in an MBA program 20 years ago. Of course, MBA programs have changed a lot in this time frame, yet a lot of the basic tools we use for decisions have not changed.

For instance, managers need to understand finance and accounting. Managers need to know how to create a strategic plan. And managers need to understand operations, distribution, and supply chain. Managers also need to understand the product development process, including aspects of technology and marketing.

The Product Life Cycle

The product life cycle (PLC) is not a new concept, yet it supports the work of a product manager today still. Just like every living thing has a life cycle – birth, growth, maturity, and death – so do products. The PLC covers the introduction of a new product to a market, growth of the product in both market share and market penetration, maturity to a commodity-like product, and decline.

Introduction

In the introductory stage of the PLC a product is first released for sale. Sometimes new products are new-to-the-world and sometimes they are only new-to-the-company. The decision to develop a new product, though, starts long before it is introduced to the market

Product managers are constantly on the lookout for new product ideas. They gather concept ideas from existing customers. Innovation managers also continually scan the horizon for new product opportunities. A new product might consist of a new technology applied to an existing market or a new market altogether.

I found a new product the other day – most likely an application of existing technology to a new market. My cats love gravy. They will drink the gravy out of the bowl and leave the particles of food behind. They really love a treat, called “Gravy-licious”. It is a crunchy treat with a “gravy” coating. At the store the other day , I found a 3-pound bag of regular food made entirely of gravy-coated particles. I knew it would be a hit – the bowl was empty in no time!

While gravy-covered treats and gravy-covered food are not radically different from my point of view (or apparently the cats’ view either), these are different products. Consider the scale of manufacturing for a treat versus that of a large volume food product. Also consider packaging, distribution, and promotion. Each element must be adequately addressed to introduce a new product to consumers.

Growth

During the growth stage, a new product is adopted by a majority of consumers in a market. Remember that adoption by a passionate few can then drive mainline purchases by your target market. In fact, product innovation leaders will gain insights to the quality, pricing, and feature sets of new products from the introduction and early growth stages.

Growth is characterized by extended promotion of the product. For a new-to-the-world product, profits begin to accumulate. Manufacturing is streamlined as are supply chain and distribution.

Maturity

As the product continues to grow in market penetration, competitors enter the market. The term market penetration means that existing customers are buying more of the product and as many customers that want the product can buy it. Market saturation occurs when every customer who wants a product can – and does – purchase it.

This maturation of a market means that the product is becoming commoditized. There is often little differentiation among competitors and profit margins decline due to pricing pressures. A lot of companies take the strategy of lowest cost during the maturity stage which, unfortunately, sinks the whole market.

Decline

Fighting for the lowest cost leads to overall decline of the product – or death in the product life cycle. Manufacturers do not want to make a product that has no profit margin as there is greater utility for equipment to make another product. In some cases, it is more cost effective to sell a factory rather than continue to produce goods that generate financial losses.

Yet, a lot of product managers fail to recognize the signs of decline. Heroic efforts will not save a dying product. Instead, innovation leaders must take a long, hard look at customers markets, technologies, brands, competitors, and products to generate a strategic plan. Do you sunset the product or reinvest to launch a next a next generation new product? Not an easy decision.

Innovating in the PLC

One word that repeats itself when describing the product life cycle is competition. Even with a new-to-the-world product, we do not operate in a vacuum. Competition is working on new technologies and new promotions in our target markets. We must be ready – at every stage of the PLC – to address competitive threats.

Do you know your competition? Do you have a formal strategy to address new product competition? Are your profit margins strong against all product competition?

If you answered “NO” to just one of these questions, it’s time for a tune-up in your PLC! Join the self-paced Competitive Analysis course here. You will earn 2 PDH and save 20% with discount code “Intro” through 15 April 2021.

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

Innovation Project Scheduling

Posted on 04.01.21

Time. It is the only resource for which there is no true price and the only resource that cannot be recovered. Once we spend a minute, an hour, or a day, it is gone. We cannot re-use the time or re-purpose it.

image from creative commons with free to use and share designation

Yet, time is a resource that is often wasted. Personally, I can waste time by watching television or chasing rabbit trails on the Internet. On a recent evening, for instance, I watched a re-run of “I Dream of Jeannie” and then spent several minutes looking at the Wikipedia histories of Larry Hagman and Barbara Eden. While I might guess a trivia question correctly in the future, I probably did not use my time to my highest productive ability.

Innovation Project activities

Likewise, we do not always use our project time effectively when we develop new products. Innovation can present a lot of “rabbit trails” from both the technology and market perspectives. When a lab test looks interesting, organizations often devote all their resources (including time) to duplicating and validating the result. Similarly, when a focus group gives positive feedback on a feature, our innovation focus narrows, and we dedicate more time to understanding that particular customer need. In retrospect, these might be the right (or wrong) decisions. Only time will tell.

Dedicated innovation project resources are the hallmark of a successful new product development (NPD) strategy. However, a singular focus can lead us to miss alternate approaches or business models. Not only do we have to be aware of our natural biases as an organization, we also must be aware of competitor actions in the field.

One way to counter a narrow innovation focus is to conduct parallel product development activities. Especially in the early phases of NPD project work, innovation teams can – and should – investigate multiple ideas, concepts, and feature sets. Some key activities in early phase new product development are as follows.

Ideation
Concept Trials
Customer Shadowing
Needs Assessment
Strategy Alignment
Competitive analysis
Prototype Testing
Pilot Testing
Quality validation
Market Tests
Performance Verification

Roadmapping

At the highest level, scheduling of innovation activities occurs through roadmapping. A roadmap is a visual representation of key product development activities and milestones that guide the product innovation team to an expected outcome. For example, if we know we need to launch a new product at a specific trade show in December, then we can draw a roadmap of activities that will allow us to meet that deadline.

Backward Pass Scheduling

In formal project management “language,” the term backward pass scheduling is used to describe building a roadmap (or schedule) from the required end date to our current date. So, if we must have a new product ready in December, we will have to do prototype testing in September. To have a realistic prototype in September, we will need to have a feature list by July period to have a list of critical features in July, we need to conduct focus groups on different concepts by May. And that means we need to hold ideation and design thinking workshops in March. We plot our key innovation activities on the roadmap which gives us a rough schedule for the project.

Detailed Scheduling

Once we have generated a roadmap of activities for the new product project, we will undertake detailed scheduling. Software tools are invaluable for both roadmapping and detailed scheduling. All project development tasks are input along with the required resources (by name and position) and activity duration. Capacity management is key to success at this stage. Some tasks include dependencies with other tasks and resources cannot be used twice in the same period. A typical output of scheduling software is a Gantt chart, which we overlay on the roadmap.

Innovation Project Scheduling

In this post, we’ve only touched on a few of the important elements in creating an innovation project schedule. The figure below summarizes these steps. (Note that monitoring and controlling a project is a separate topic.)

While getting the details right is important, the most crucial element for successful innovation leaders is getting the process right. This includes understanding customer needs and required innovation activities. Join me on 22 and 23 April 2021 for the WAGILE Product Development workshop. In this interactive online class, you will tackle your biggest innovation scheduling challenges, streamline customer feedback processes, and improve speed-to-market. If you find you are launching ho-hum products too late in a crowded marketplace, you must learn WAGILE now! Register here.

Learn how to make your innovation process flexible!

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.