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PMP-Leadership

Innovation Project Planning

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.

Project Management Skills

Recently I moderated a panel discussion for my local PMI® (Project Management Institute) chapter.  I wanted the questions to be engaging for both the speakers and the audience.  Of course, we started with the prerequisite “Who are you?” and “How did you get here?” questions.  The other questions, I hoped, inspired learning – especially for new project and portfolio managers.

In no particular order, here are the questions the project management panel in Coastal Bend Texas addressed.

Lessons From Failed Projects

Projects fail.  For many different reasons, projects fail.  Product innovation professionals know more about failure than other project managers because there are a lot of uncertainties in new product development (NPD).  The best view, I think, is to treat failure as a learning opportunity.

Projects fail – normally – in several arenas.  Poor planning results in too few resources committed to the project.  Not enough money can result in poor quality outputs.  Not assigning the right people to do the work can result in delays.  Not understanding the final product of the project yields a mismatch between technologies and markets.

Effective project planning requires addressing the triple constraint upfront, regardless of your preferred project management system.  The scope of the project must be achievable, while the budget and timeline (schedule) must align with the stated goals and objectives of the project.  For NPD projects, the scope must also align with the innovation strategy.  (Read more about strategy here.)

Living Life Backwards

Another question for the project management panelists was to think about what they would change in their younger selves if they lived life backwards.  This is a bit of a rift on my presentation to the University of Washington graduate students earlier this year (read more here).  We gain wisdom with years and (hopefully) would advise our younger selves against stupid mistakes.

One area of importance to project managers and portfolio managers is communication.  Wisdom brings clarity to our communications.  Project managers must communicate to several different groups of stakeholders with different needs.  Team members need to know what to do and when.  Some inexperienced team members might need to learn “how” to do certain tasks.   The project management leader serves as a mentor for the team.

Other stakeholders are interested in the overall progress of the project, the money spent, and expected completion.  In product innovation, our customers are involved in testing a product features and marketing collateral.  Yet other stakeholders are internal customers, needing manufacturing specifications and quality standards.  Communicating with each group necessitates a different level of detail.

In addition, communications may be synchronous or asynchronous, meaning some information must be discussed and debated face-to-face while other data can be provided without a lot of explanation.  High performing project managers and portfolio managers utilize the type (synchronous or asynchronous) and format of communications to match the needs of their stakeholders.  This is learned only through wisdom that we gain by experience.

Certification

Finally, another question for the panelists was how their various firms view certification.  Since they were speaking at a PMI meeting, support for the PMP® (Project Management Professional) certification was high.  However, product innovation professionals also benefit from New Product Development Professional (NPDP) certification, which is more encompassing of innovation than PMP.  Learn more here.

My personal belief is that certifications have become almost as important as university degrees.  However, there are a lot of different certifications from which to choose.  What’s important in certification is to have an educational component to validate knowledge and understanding of the field.  Another important component is testing and continuing education.  All industrial fields are continuously changing with emerging best practices.  Having a continuous education component ensures that industry practices overlay academic theories.

Summary

Many project management skills are strategic and relational.  Of course, it’s important to know how to create a balanced and integrated schedule and budget.  But it’s also important to value learning and communication, especially for portfolio managers.  Oftentimes we miss opportunities to learn from failure yet project managers, especially those working on innovation projects, must be willing to learn to grow.

Wishing you all the best in the new year.  Please contact me at info at globalnpsolutions.com if you want to learn more about managing new product development projects.  We are also offering our limited, once per year course on portfolio management – 100 days to Effective Product Portfolio Management.  Learn more here.

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Being Busy

“Busy.”  That has become the American answer to “How are you doing?”  I recently saw a videoblog where they described the two categories of people who are busy.  Low to medium self-esteem people say they’re busy because they want praise from others.   They are doing work for other people and seek reassurance.  Mid to high self-esteem people, he said, are busy because we want to show our work to others by accomplishing much.

But are we really all that busy?

In another post I have written about waiting.  (Read about Waiting and Creativity here).  Many of us consume all our free minutes looking at our cell phones.  Some play games, some read Facebook, others check stock prices, and still others do email.  Yet is that really busy?  Can we use that free time for something else?

Time-boxing in Scrum

One of my favorite tools for managing time, schedules, and busy-ness is time-boxing.  This method is borrowed from Scrum Project Management.  In Scrum, activities are routine and repeated within pre-specified blocks of time.  (Read about Scrum for Product Management in a blog here or in Chapter 3 of The Innovation ANSWER Book, 2nd edition.)  The iterative nature of sprints (time-boxes for doing work in Scrum) help to accomplish more with less “busy-ness”.

For example, in a 2-week iteration in Scrum, the team will meet for 4-hours at the start of the “sprint “ to plan and prioritize work tasks.  Each workday starts with a 15-minute “stand-up meeting”.  At the conclusion of the sprint there are 4-hour meetings to review the work and outputs of the sprint, and to conduct a lessons learned review (called a “retrospective”).

Time blocks in Scrum are sacred.  Work should not take longer than scheduled, or else the planning was poor.  With each iteration following the same pattern, a clear flow of work is established.  The work habit becomes ingrained in team members so that productivity improvements naturally occur over repeated sprints.

Of course, sprints are not perfect.  Surprises in technical development and product design occur so that tasks are not completed in the allotted time frame.  These roll over to the next iteration as “backlog” but the number of new tasks for that next sprint are reduced to keep the work manageable.

Scrum teams are busy but they are doing business not just busy-ness.

Time-Boxing for Innovation Leaders

Innovation leaders and product managers can use the idea of time-boxing to improve productivity as well.  The idea of following habits to establish flow is recommended in many, many self-help books.  Habits reduce our decisions and preserve our high-level brainpower for more important tasks.

A good habit is to keep the things you need for each day in the same place.  I have a “purse” table where I store my purse, car keys, and gym bag.  I don’t have to waste precious time in the morning searching for a required item.  Another habit I follow is to select my clothes for the next day each evening.  I put my clothes in the bathroom next to the shower, so I don’t have to make a decision early in the morning.

Time-boxing is a habit for your schedule and can free up “busy” time.  For instance, checking email is a low brainpower activity.  If your inbox looks like mine, there’s only 5 to 10% of email that matters.  There are interesting and educational newsletters to read (like this one!), but there is also a lot of junk.  I time-box email for mid-morning so that I can save my early morning focus for critical work.

You can also use time-boxing for managing innovation projects.  Using a tool like planning poker helps the team to estimate task durations.  Retrospectives, post-launch reviews, or lessons learned conducted at the end of each iteration provide immediate feedback on what to improve for the next phase of work.

Note that if you are using a traditional staged-and-gated process for managing innovation projects, you should still conduct routine lessons learned reviews.  Schedule an extra hour for each gate review and answer these simple questions.  (Read more in Chapter 3 of The Innovation ANSWER Book, 2nd edition.)

  • What was done right?
  • What was done poorly?
  • What can be improved?

While some of your team members may change as you scale-up design and development work for new product development (NPD), the people that stay with the project team will incorporate these learnings as habits and best practices.

Are You Busy?

Being busy really means consuming time – a very precious resource.  I prefer to think of being busy as being productive.  Whether we are low-esteem or high-esteem people, our goals in busy-ness are to create positive change.  Innovation leaders are in a unique position to create change through products, services, and applications.

Do you want to reduce the busy-ness of your product development teams?  Make sure they are working on the right things!  Learn how by joining me for the special PPM in 100 Days workshop starting 7 February 2022.  This intensive, customized, and real-world workshop is only offered once a year.  Feel free to contact me at info at Simple-PDH.com for more information.

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What is Innovation?

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.

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Creative Perspectives

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, 2nd 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.

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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 info@simple-pdh.com 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

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

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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.

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A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.

3 Ways to Supercharge Your Creativity

Watch the short video summary and then read on…

Creativity is kind of a loaded word.  Everyone wants to be creative, but many people are hesitant to test their creativity.  A lot of people conflate creativity with artistry.  Yet, we need creativity to design and develop new products. 

Innovation and creativity go hand-in-hand.  Product solutions must be creative enough to offer alternatives to customers.  Product innovation is not only a disciplined process but is also a creative one.  Both innovation and creativity thrive within boundaries and constraints yet also need us to consider opportunities from new perspectives. 

How can you improve innovation success at your firm?  Consider the following three ways to supercharge your creativity. 

Gratitude

Creative ideas often come to us when our minds have noodled on a problem for a while.  We also design better solutions when we are in a positive frame of mind.  Being grateful for what we have can increase our creativity. 

A lot of executive coaches and time management experts advise making a list of three things for which we are grateful for at the end of each day.  Gratitude reminds us of our blessings and that we are not alone.  Often, these gratitude lists describe people and relationships instead of “stuff” and money. 

So, instead of approaching your next product innovation project from a position of “what needs fixing,” I suggest you try figuring out what is already working.  Be grateful for customer feedback that illuminates quality issues and show generosity to customers who highlight improvement opportunities.  Ask your customers what they like about a product. 

Practice gratitude to increase your creativity.  Before you go to bed tonight, jot down three things for which you are grateful.  Then, consider how you can enlarge and enhance opportunities tomorrow.  Be creative!

Recharge

Because our subconscious mind does much of our “creative” work, we need to give our brains a rest.  A lot of people say they get their best ideas in the shower.  Why?  In the shower, there is no television news, there are no housekeeping chores, and there are no looming work deadlines.  Our brains are resting – and roaming. 

I recently took a two-week vacation to go hiking in the desert southwest.  We only turned on the television twice during that time, I rarely checked the “news” (or national debt) on my phone, and checked email only for urgent issues on weekdays.  I totally unplugged (except for my presentation to a developer’s conference on the topic of … creativity). 

Unplugging allows us to recharge.  When you unplug, you can suddenly hear the birds and the wind.  You see the world through fresh eyes.  Colors are more vibrant, and your dreams are clearer.  These are the elements of creativity.  You must find the time to unplug and recharge to build your creative muscles. 

Sleep

Of course, being on vacation means waking up without an alarm clock.  Most adults need about eight hours of sleep, but we get only five or six due to work, family, and other commitments.  My vacation allowed me to recharge by getting enough sleep.  A long day of hiking with sun and fresh air (and sometimes rain and wind) made sleep a glorious respite.  And on vacation (without an alarm clock), I woke up – fully rested – when the sun gently peeked through the window. 

Everyone knows that getting enough sleep is important for health and well-being, but if you work in innovation, you also need enough sleep to be creative.  The gray matter recharges with sleep and neuroscientists tell us that sleep allows new pathways to form between our brain cells.  Again, our subconscious is at work while we sleep, generating new ideas to serve our customers. 

One trick I use is to consider a big, hairy problem before I go to sleep.  I have already put myself into a positive state of mind by considering different gratitudes for the day.  Then, as I think about a problem and doze off, I can dream about solutions.  More often than not, I wake up with a new idea, a new solution, or a better way to do things. 

Supercharge Your Creativity

Creativity is a mental muscle that needs attention – just like our physical body needs good nutrition and exercise.  Product innovation professionals must improve creativity to continue designing and developing interesting and valuable products and services.  Three ways to supercharge your creativity are:

  1. Practice daily gratitude,
  2. Routinely unplug and recharge, and
  3. Get enough quality sleep. 

You can learn more about improving your skills for innovation and creativity at my presentation “Innovation Magic:  Creativity in a Hybrid World” at the upcoming ACMP Texas conference on 17 September.  Learn more about the conference and other great speakers that are Imagining the Future here.  You might also be interested in a special two-hour creativity workshop I’m offering on 1 October.  Learn more and register here. 

Decision-Making for Product Managers

Every day we face hundreds of decisions:  what to wear, what to eat, and what music to play.  Most of our decisions are of little consequence, such as wearing the red shirt instead of the blue one.  Our small daily decisions of food and exercise can add up overtime to a more healthy, longer life span or one with health struggles.  Many such small decisions are made automatically, based on our personal values or habits.  (Read a short post on Routines for Innovation Teams here.)

As product and innovation managers, our decisions can have significant impacts on the happiness and satisfaction of our customers.  The small, daily decisions to perform maintenance at a factory impacts the long-term quality of products, just as our daily choices to eat well and exercise impact our longevity.  Other decisions are more clearly influential in whether new technologies are tested or implemented and whether or not an investment is made in a given product or process.  These larger decisions have both short-term and long-range impacts on external customers alongside internal finances and operations.  Such decisions should be approached with the rigor of the scientific method. 

A Decision-Making Process

While not every decision merits analysis via the scientific method, it is important to recognize the typical steps through which individuals and teams make decisions.  For decisions involving high-risk or trouble-shooting customer situations in which little is known, the decision-making model is especially helpful.  Other times, steps are skipped or combined. 

Note that we show the decision-making process as a cycle.  Every decision we make as product managers cascades to future decisions regarding customers, technologies, and products.  The follow-up (Step 6) of each decision results in a new set of questions and problems to ensure customer satisfaction.

Step 1:  Identify the Problem

For many troubled-shooting situations, like a poor quality or off-specification product, identifying the problem is often the most challenging step in the decision-making process.  Product engineers and quality management specialists are very good at solving problems, but we must be careful in defining the correct problem to solve.  Moreover, management may be making a decision regarding which of many investments to make in the product portfolio, so the problem is more than a binary decision.  In this case, product innovation decisions involve trade-offs, resource and schedule constraints as well as financial investment and customer satisfaction measures. 

It is not unusual for product development teams to revisit the problem statement during subsequent steps in the decision-making process.  As data is gathered and hypotheses are tested, the problem statement is refined and re-characterized.  Remember that problem statements must be in the terms of the customer (benefits) rather than applying internal technology attributes to products.  Sometimes a symptom, such as off-spec product, is really a sign of a deeper problem, such as poor-quality materials or inefficient factory processes.  Such issues can impact customer satisfaction and profitability.  Product managers must give attention to both external (customer) and internal (operations) elements for a balanced view of innovation.

Step 2:  Define Objectives

Once the customer’s problem has been clearly defined, the new product development team must assess their goals in making the decision.  If you only need a “band-aid” to keep the product profitable for a short time until a replacement product is marketed, your decisions will be different than if a new product is being developed.  New products often require new technologies and new factory construction, even with an anticipate product life cycle of several years.  (Read more about the product life cycle here.)

Other product development decisions evaluate the trade-offs among scope, schedule, and budget for the development project by emphasizing one element more than the others.  Senior management often recognizes the value of all projects but can only invest in a few projects due to resource constraints.  Again, these decisions focus on the entire product portfolio, including existing products and new product development.

Step 3:  Propose a Hypothesis

Sometimes this step is called “Make a Pre-Decision”.  At this phase of the decision-making process, you are determining how to make the decision.  Will a special team be assigned to assess customer feedback data?  Will the decision be made by through normal operating and functional management meetings?  How will customer concept and prototype testing occur?  Will existing or new customers be tested?

At the conclusion of this phase of work in the decision-making process, the new product development team will have formulated a specific plan to advance the objectives of the decision.  This will be unique to each product decision. 

Step 4:  Generate Alternatives

There is never one right answer.  Even as product development and innovation professionals with strong opinions and deep customer knowledge, we know that there are different approaches to solving customer problems.  To generate profitable new products, we may choose to adjust factory conditions or marketing collateral.  There are consequences to each decision that may involve raw material costs, labor expenses, or reputation in the marketplace.  Ultimately, new product decisions must lead to customer benefits and company profits.

At this stage of the decision-making process, risks and consequences of each alternative are also discussed.  Risk management is an ideal process to help with product development decisions such as forecasting costs and benefits.  Alternate strategies for a product portfolio use comparisons such as SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) to generate alternatives for project investment decisions.  (Read about SWOT and other strategic product management tools here.)

Step 5:  Evaluate Alternatives

As different alternate solutions to customer problems are generated, they must be evaluated.  This is the phase of decision-making process in which product development professionals use our special skills and expertise.  We gather and analyze data to test hypotheses and to support alternate choices in features or attributes.  We interact extensively with customers at this phase.  Collecting and analyzing quantitative data according to scientific principles yields measurable comparisons.  Qualitative data further serves to support customer feelings and attitudes regarding new product features and marketing approaches.

Step 6:  Make a Choice

In quality control situations, the product manager may be responsible for making a choice among alternatives based on cost and customer satisfaction.  In other situations, the entire new product development team may serve as internal consultants to management or project clients who will be making final product launch decisions.  Product innovation professionals must present all relevant data and information accurately and honestly so that whoever is making the decision can do so objectively.  Product managers, in particular, are responsible for making recommendations regarding profit and loss for a brand product line or new product.  These choices have impact on finances, manufacturing, and market share.

Step 7:  Implement the Choice

Once a decision is made, the decision is implemented.  In many cases, new product development teams will simply transmit instructions to modify a known product to the factory (e.g., a derivative product).  In other cases, a financial decision may lead to a months-long or years-long development project involving dozens of new product development professionals, engineers, IT, and various contractors.  For many technical professionals, the “hands-on” implementation of the decision can be the most enjoyable part of working because they see a design come to life!

Step 8:  Follow-Up

This step is often overlooked in the decision-making process but is arguably the most important. It is critical for both individual learning and for product development improvement to understand the impact of an innovation decision.  Also, if the outcomes of the decision did not deliver the expected results, another alternative may need to be implemented or customer problems investigated to a further degree.  If the outcome of the decision met the objectives of the new product development project, then the process may be documented as a best practice.  Follow-up is the essence of the product post-launch review.  (Read more about post-launch reviews here.) 

Decision-Making for Product Development

While not every decision needs a heavy, methodological approach, many decisions we make as product managers and innovation professionals do indeed require a systematic thought process.  The steps outlined here validate that you correctly identify the customer’s problem and define objectives in the decision-making process.  You also want to ensure that you define potential solutions and evaluate alternatives objectively.  Follow-up after a product decision is made verifies customer satisfaction and profitability. 

New product development team leaders can use the decision-making steps to help a team gather relevant information at the right point in the process.  Further, as product innovation professionals deploy the scientific method in making product decisions, the skills for technology and marketing spread across a broad spectrum of decisions for new product development.  Good decisions lead to improved product development processes and outcomes.

Do you need to make better and faster product development decisions?  To help you implement effective product decisions, please join our best practices Master Class on Leadership for Project Managers starting 18 August.  Register here. 

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Four Elements of Creativity

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. 

  1. Use a cross-functional team to build empathy across many different perspectives. 
  2. Place loose boundaries around the problem space to enhance creativity. 
  3. Encourage curiosity by offering new options and seeking to deeply understand the problem. 
  4. 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. 

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Passion and Persistence

Innovation is often conflated with creativity.  While successful product innovation requires application of a new technology or developing new markets, creativity lends the new with the known.  Both innovation and creativity hinge on passion and persistence.

Click here for the 30-second video summary and then read on.

What is Innovation?

Innovation is the introduction of something new.  Sometimes we find a new technology that makes a task simpler or cheaper.  There are product innovations that make the lives of consumers better and there are process innovations that make factories run more smoothly.  Product and process innovations deliver value to the customer and value to the company (profit).

We also observe innovation in marketing when an existing product or technology is introduced to a new market.  For example, using your smartphone to take a photograph is known technology.  Using your phone to take a photo of a check and deposit it to your bank account is a new market application.

A third category of innovation is a new business model.  Business models (read more here) are the narratives of how companies serve customers and create value for both he customer and themselves.  Sometimes a business model innovation is simple, such as changing fast food pick-up from a drive-through window to curbside.  Other times the business model transformation is huge – do banks need tellers anymore if we take photos for depositing checks and get cash from an ATM?

Thus, innovation can be small or large.  Innovation can involve technology, markets, and products.  And, innovation can encompass sales and delivery channels. 

What is Creativity?

Dicationary.com defines creativity as “the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns…”  I often think of artists as creative people.  I envy their talent in oil painting, woodworking, and jewelry-making.  Interestingly, my friends and family have told me that I’m creative with my handmade greeting cards.  As a chemical engineer by training, I’m pretty sure I’m not an artist – I think of myself as a nerd!

Yet, artists are just as dedicated to their craft as nerds are committed to engineering and coding.  Artists study their subjects – people, landscapes, texture, and colors – just as engineers study math.  And successful artists commit hours to perfecting their technique and media, just as engineers spend hours at university learning sophisticated calculus, statistics, and physical chemistry. 

The Common Thread

So, innovation and creativity share the common idea of creating something new.  To be successful at innovation, a company needs creative concepts, but creativity is not enough.  Creative artists and innovation professionals share passion and persistence in their quest to create something new.

Passion

Passion is a desire for something that is so intense you cannot imagine not having it.  Artists are passionate about their work.  They talk about a necessity to paint so that a scene in their imagination can become real.  Mystery writers have a passion to create a tension and they must write so they, too, can find out who-done-it. 

Innovation professionals also have deep passions.  We want to make a product work and to solve a customer’s problem.  We must create a better way for our customers to access information or to perform daily tasks.  Sometimes an innovator’s passion is the technology – knowing that if people can use a new device, it will make their lives better.  Creating the new technology is work of love.

In Bridging Communication Gaps (Chapter 6 in PDMA Essentials Volume 3), I recommend hiring for passion over other qualifications.  Team members with passion will support your mission and strive for excellence.  Passion resulting in a work well done is a reward by itself.

Persistence

I saw a quote the other day that success only comes before work in the dictionary.  This is definitely what my parents taught me.  I also observe artists and creative people working with persistence.  Great writers and painters spend dedicated time every day working to master their technique.  We don’t see their mistakes and errors from practice.  What we are treated to is the result of creative persistence and hard work.

Successful innovation professionals are also persistent.  We cannot design and develop a new product just because we have an idea.  We must carefully (and ploddingly) analyze the data from potential customers and market segments.  We must be persistent in the questions we ask and to whom we ask.  Innovation doesn’t happen overnight, and we must be persistent in carrying a project through the long, boring times to achieve success.  You’ve probably heard of the entrepreneur who became an overnight success – after 10 years of hard work and persistence!

Innovation and Creative Leadership

Passion and persistence.  Goal-setting.  Managing schedules and budgets.  Creativity and innovation.  Leaders need all these skills (and more).  So, I’m really excited to offer you a chance to develop your passions for innovation through our new Leadership Master Class, starting 18 August (online).  This course was created from years of experience in building innovation leaders and incorporates many of the tools from the popular Life Design Master Mind.  Learn more and register here. 

In the meantime, do what you love (passion) and do it well (persistence). 

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Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.