PMP-Strategy

Why Product Development is Like a Bank Loan

Posted on 09.12.22

Loans among friends can quickly impact their friendship in a negative way. I have learned that loaning a book to a friend really means giving them the book. Not intentionally, people lose or damage the items they have borrowed so they cannot return them. (Or are embarrassed to admit it.)

My dad was a CPA, so I also learned at a very early age that family and friends should never loan money to family and friends. He spent many hours sorting out promises and loans in the estates of his clients, including treasures of furniture and jewelry along with monetary wealth. Nothing good ever came from these squabbles among family members.

That’s why throughout time, advanced societies use neutral parties for loans. Americans borrow money from banks and repay those loans over an agreed-upon period of time. The bank charges interest because they do not have the use of that sum during the loan. Interest also covers the risk that the borrower may never repay the loan. Where there is higher risk, the interest rate is also higher.

New product development (NPD) is much like a bank loan. A company is making an investment gamble and cannot use the resources committed to a project in any other way. For example, human resources can only work on one thing at a time. If you choose to design and develop a new product, your human talent cannot also simultaneously work on production improvement. Hiring more staff allows multiple initiatives to occur at the same time, but we are all restricted – as human beings – to doing only one thing at a time.

Investment

NPD is like a bank loan from the perspective of investment. Financial experts do not loan money to every person who walks through the door. Entrepreneurs are well aware that they must prepare a legitimate business case to receive a bank loan. The banker is evaluating whether the investment will pay off as well as considering other investment options. Money, like time, can usually only be spent once.

Product development is an investment by a firm in the idea. Management must be convinced that the business case (market and technology) for the new product is the best use of limited financial resources. Just like bankers, management considers trade-offs on the use of limited resources (time, money, equipment, and staff). Product development is often a long-term investment for a firm.

Risk

Again, banks take risks that some people will default on their loans. Just as I have learned that “loaning” a book to a friend really means “giving” them the book, bankers recognize that a certain percentage of loans will go bad. Not only has the bank made an investment by loaning that money, the risk is they will lose not simply the gains (interest) but also the principal. In other words, they may be worse off because the transaction took place.

New product development is inherently risky. We do not know – at the beginning of a project – whether we can develop a cost-effective technology or whether consumers will buy the product at a price to deliver a profit. Some product designs will never be commercialized, and the investment is lost, just like a defaulted loan.

Collateral

Banks often ask for collateral in exchange for risking their money. If you borrow money to buy a car, the car itself holds value. If you default on the loan, the bank can repossess the car to regain some of their investment. Similarly, if you take out a home mortgage, the house itself serves as collateral for the loan.

While investment and risk have ready parallels between NPD and bank loans, collateral is a little more esoteric. Companies specialize in certain products, technologies, and markets. Their knowledge, including patents and license or franchise potential, serve as long-term collateral for product development.

For example, if the R&D group at your firm investigates a new plastic treatment for a part on a new product, they retain that knowledge whether or not the part is used on a commercial product. Learning and knowledge are key to successful product design and development. That’s what companies mean when they say, “Our people are our greatest asset.” The knowledge asset is the collateral for an NPD gamble.

NPD is Like a Bank Loan

Banks take risks and invest money where they expect a payback. They charge interest to earn a profit on those investments. Loan risks are balanced by collateral, or assets, that will recover a portion of the investment if the borrower defaults. This system is fair for both the lender (the bank) and the borrower.

New product development (NPD) is an investment risk taken by companies of all sizes. They hope that sales revenues will deliver a profit on the investment made in designing and developing the new product. The risk of a failed project is balanced by the collateral of increased corporate knowledge.

Do you need to understand and evaluate NPD risks? If so, please contact me and we’ll discuss how processes and portfolios can reduce the inherent risk of NPD. We strive to help our clients improve speed-to-market and improve effective team collaboration.

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

3 Ways to Supercharge Your Creativity

Posted on 08.18.21

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:

Practice daily gratitude,
Routinely unplug and recharge, and
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.

Who Is Your Competition?

Posted on 03.11.21

Recently, I was asked to submit a proposal for work with an existing client. The work broadened their horizons, pushing both their approach and my creativity. After learning their scope of work (boundaries and constraints), budget, and time frame, I submitted a proposal.

As is the case sometimes, the company chose a different consultant. In fact, I was pretty sure they had someone else in mind to do the work when I held conversations with them. What is important to learn is not just what the winning bid was but who was the competition.

Elements of Competition

Competition as a consultant, a product development professional, or engineering manager is not always obvious. Our response to competition is part of our organizational strategy. As I say over and over again, strategies overarching framework for innovation. Strategy defines who we are as an organization and directs our actions. So, the first element of competition is strategy.

Strategy
Presence
Willingness
Capacity

Strategy

Strategy seems simple. Just decide what you’re going to do. Yet, in product innovation, strategy is more than that. Our organizational mission drives decisions and rate of technical expansion. Our values direct how we interact in marketplaces. Our vision determines how aggressive we are in development.

Strategy also determines the tactics of everyday business life. How big is the budget? How many resources are committed to R&D? What is our quality goal? Spend some time on your strategy to be successful. Learn more in our Exclusive Strategy Reset Workshop here.

Presence

The second element of competition is presence. Though it is annoying, campaign posters and yard signs spring up every election season. Why? Name recognition results in votes. You may not know the candidate’s stand on a policy, but you’ve seen his face on a campaign poster and you know his name. The same goes with real estate agents and personal injury lawyers. Their advertising – including billboards, television spots, and newspaper ads – all include a photograph. When we see a face, we know they are present.

In product development, we must establish presence by interacting with our customers on a regular basis. They know us, trust us, and give us feedback. Working directly with customers in co-creation leads to competitive advantage.

Do you have presence in your industry?

Willingness

Another element of competition is willingness. Some of you might remember that willingness is my word of the year for 2021 (read more here). Willingness means acceptance and patience while being bold and courageous at the same time. Willingness also means working in areas that are strategically aligned with business goals and objectives. The work that my existing client was seeking was work I was willing to do. My competition was also willing to do it. But there are hundreds of consultants who would have said “no” right off the bat.

It is important in product innovation to know what you’re willing to do – again, what is the strategy? If your organizational vision is to serve a global market, you might turn away local-only product development effort. If your mission statement includes “being a cost leader” you are putting reasonable boundaries on the target customer.

Determine your markets and willingness to serve them. Focus on design and development for product innovation where the organization is willing and able to work profitably.

Capacity

In thinking about who is your competition, you want to also consider capacity to do project work. If your design team is stretched thin on multiple next generation products already, should you enter another competitive market? On the other hand, if your products are entering maturity and decline phases in the product life cycle, should you strategically increase capacity and R&D?

While your organizational capacity to take on new product development innovation work is different than your competitors, you must gauge their approach versus market growth. A tool that I love for this is the SWOT analysis – strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats. It’s a simple way to thoroughly analyze internal capabilities and consider external factors impacting business growth.

Understand your Competition

Competition comes at us from known sources and unexpected places. Taking a look at the four key elements of competition can help you be more successful in product innovation (and save both time and money!). First, be firm in your strategy – what are you doing, how are you doing it, and why are you doing it?

Next, understand that a market presence gives the impression of a competitive advantage. If your customers are involved with you in product development, you will shorten project development times and achieve higher levels of customer satisfaction. Then, determine your willingness to design and develop new products within various target markets. In some situations, leave the new products to competitors – especially if they do not align with your strategy. Finally, if you’ve got strategic alignment, market presence, and a willingness to do the work, check your capacity. Hiring and training more staff for new product development projects might be viewed as expensive but you don’t want to miss any key opportunities!

Learn More

If you want to learn how to implement effective strategic goals to beat the competition, please join me for the Exclusive Reset Your Strategy Workshop on Monday, 15 March (Part 1) and on Monday, 22 March 2021(Part 2). Special discounts for the unemployed as you navigate new competition. Contact me at [email protected] for more information.

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

About Me

I am inspired by writing, teaching, 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.

Innovation Efficiency

Posted on 02.05.21

Our society values efficiency. We use drive-through banking and automatic light switches to save time and energy. Operations managers measure task efficiency to increase production with reduced labor and materials inputs.

But how does “efficiency” impact innovation? Is efficiency a positive metric that drives customer satisfaction? Or does “efficiency” de-humanize the work of product development?

What is Innovation?

First, let’s take a step back and define “innovation”. Innovation is a new way of doing things that results in profit for a firm and increased utility for a customer. Innovations come from the application of new technologies yet are also derived from new combinations of existing products and services. We call the latter case business model innovation.

An innovation may deliver a new technology to an existing market or it may introduce an existing technology to a new market. As product development professionals, we seek to balance risk of technologies and markets with the needs of our customers, the opportunity for profit, and growth. Typically, we measure the success of a product innovation through sales volumes, market share, and financial return.

What is Efficiency in Innovation?

We can define efficiency as how much output we get per unit of input. Waste is the opposite of efficiency ‑ what gets scrapped cannot serve to increase customer satisfaction, sales, or profits. The biggest waste we have in innovation is wasted knowledge. Some examples of wasted knowledge are:

Lack of technology transfer,
Too many meetings,
Project handoffs,
Poor definition of product requirements,
Lack of cross functional communication, and
Chaotic work environments.

In classical industrial engineering studies, efficiency is measured by “stopwatch studies”. Sometimes, people are asked to record the percentage of time they spend on a task. Certainly, for assembly line work, such time studies can be valuable to increase factory throughput, improve production rates, and identify opportunities for automation. However, in a creative process (like innovation) how can we measure task time or efficiency? I recommend the post-launch review and burndown charts.

Post-Launch Reviews (PLR)

Post-launch reviews should be (though often are not) conducted as a new product is commercialized. The PLR-1 addresses team activities, templates, and procedures. If you are using a staged-and-gated new product development (NPD) process, the PLR-1 is the opportunity to record how much time was spent on each stage and how many resources were used for tasks within those stages. Then, the next time you do a similar project (e.g. add a feature, extend the market), you can get a better estimate of both the time and cost of the innovation effort.

While this is not a perfect textbook definition of “efficiency”, it addresses our greatest concern of wasting knowledge. If the discovery stage is taking twice as long as similar projects have in the past, what might be the bottleneck? Check on issues like customer feedback, team member workload, and quality expectations.

Read more about post-launch reviews here.

Burndown Chart

The burndown chart is a tool from the world of Scrum and Agile. Instead of estimating how far the project needs to go to completion, the burndown chart documents how much is left to do.

One of the disadvantages of Agile systems in new product development is the definition of “done”. When we couple Agile processes with traditional staged-and-gated systems in WAGILE, we are disciplined to define both the product and task completion. Burndown charts are essential to making progress on a WAGILE project without getting bogged down and “gold-plating” the product.

The burndown chart shows how many individual tasks must be completed prior to the next gate review or product commercialization. As tasks are completed, the chart reflects fewer tasks to do in the future. Using our time estimate from historical projects (the PLR), we can estimate a piece of work – or efficiency – to design a new product innovation. Interestingly, teams respond positively to countdown of tasks over consumption of budget which “counts up”.

Innovation Efficiency

It’s always a bit tricky to discuss efficiency in the realms of knowledge work and creativity. Yet even the greatest authors and painters set a standard of number of words to write or hours to hold the brush. Efficiency includes dedication to our craft and is measured by a lack of waste – wasted knowledge and wasted time.

An Invitation

Join me in other innovation professionals at the Creative Cafe on Friday, 5 February 2021, at 10:00 am CST. It’s a free and open form to talk about all things innovation. We meet about every other week so join as you are able! Last time our topic was “Setting Achievable Goals” – one metric for efficiency! This week our general theme is “Are You Creative” remembering that creativity requires discipline. Get the free Zoom link here.

You can also catch a discussion of creativity, design thinking, and innovation at the Houston ATD general meeting on Tuesday, 9 February 2021 at 11:30 am. REGISTER HERE.

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

About Me

Defining Innovation Leadership

Posted on 12.17.20

Innovation is inherently risky. Yet, the old adage “innovate or die” requires leaders to continually invest in new product development (NPD). Success depends on rigorous processes, committed resources, and confident leadership. Transformative innovation programs include a clear vision for today and for the future. Innovation leaders guide and govern an ecosystem for NPD success.

The Innovation Framework

At the heart of innovation is strategy. An organization needs to clearly and succinctly describe its vision, mission, and values. The strategy of a firm drives its decision-making processes based on risk tolerance and a chosen business model.

Executing an innovation strategy with efficiency builds short-term and long-term success. Product portfolio management (PPM) comprises a set of executive decisions to select the highest value-added innovation projects for the organization to implement. (Please join our hands-on implementation of 100 Days to PPM in 2021 here – you will transform your innovation program! Use discount code goodbye 2020 before 20 December 2020 to save 20%.)

Hand-in-hand with project selection is the NPD process by which an individual project moves from idea to commercialization. A great number of project management tools are available today to streamline project execution in parallel with the innovation strategy. If your firm is not already using PPM software, you should resolve to find an appropriate system in the new year!

Of course, all products and services have a limited lifetime. Customer tasks and market forces change the demand curves for new products overtime. Product life cycle management matches innovation and marketing strategies with the maturity of a product. Innovation leaders are successful when their life cycle decisions align with the organization’s strategic direction.

Next, these critical elements of innovation are supported by both internal and external organizational functions. Teams and leadership are the people that do the work of innovation. The best leaders understand different working styles while engaging and motivating teams with autonomous project work. Check out a case study of success from the Team Dimensions profile in the podcast here.

NPD tools and metrics provide supporting frameworks to ensure implementation of best practices and continuous improvement. Successful innovation leaders adopt and adapt NPD tools from a variety of industries to enhance idea generation, customer interactions, and process improvement. The emerging WAGILE product development process is a way to integrate a hybrid NPD process with Design Thinking tools for active customer engagement. Register here for the February 2021 WAGILE short course.

Finally, market research directly links customer satisfaction in a feedback loop to the business strategy. Market research teaches an organization about customer needs, emotional drivers, and transient competitors. You must have both primary and secondary market research tools in place to gather customer insights for existing and new products.

Why You Need to Define Innovation Leadership

First, 60 to 80% of CEOs believe that innovation is crucial to the long-term growth of their business. Yet, key stakeholders have marginal opinions of the new products and services offered in the marketplace. About one-quarter of customers do not believe new products are innovative. Executives and senior leaders struggle with repeatable innovation that drives top line growth.

Defining innovation leadership is based on our Flagship Innovation Leader program that transforms individuals and organizations from struggling individual contributors to a high-performance innovation machine. Understanding and acting upon your organization’s innovation health will breathe new life into your NPD programs. Take the Innovation Health Assessment™ here and benchmark your performance with industry.

For anyone wanting to learn more about innovation best practices, please check out our full list of courses including NPDP Certification and Innovation Best Practices starting on 14 January. Please use discount code goodbye 2020 for a 20% discount on any single course at Simple-PDH.

Another important resource for you as you define innovation leadership is The Innovation ANSWER Book. This book has simplified the content from the PDMA Body of Knowledge so that you can use The Innovation ANSWER Book both as a study guide for NPDP certification and to guide practical industry implementation of innovation best practices. Get your copy at Amazon (paperback or Kindle).

What Are Your Plans for 2021?

To define yourself as a transformative innovation leader, you need to sustain continuing education. Innovation is learning! For more information on open courses and customized learning for innovation best practices, please contact me at [email protected] or area code 281, phone 787-3979.

About Me

I am inspired by writing, teaching, 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 for more information on coaching for entrepreneurs and innovators.

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

The Wagile Philosophy

Posted on 08.27.20

Watch the short video summary and then read on for the details!

In business and innovation, we often talk about strategy. I think of strategy like a destination when I take a trip. I need to know where I’m going so that I can plan how to get there and what resources I will need. Strategy indicates the vision, mission, and values.

When I take a vacation, I enjoy hiking and being outdoors. I also enjoy history and trying new foods. These are a reflection of my values or philosophy in choosing a destination. In business and innovation, our values form how we make decisions and what activities or behaviors are acceptable in achieving strategic goals.

Recently, I encountered two small businesses with similar goals but different value systems. The first bicycle shop I visited had a huge sign on its door – “We are not taking any repairs. Wait here and phone us to enter the store.” The second bicycle shop, sounding exasperated at the disruption in supply chains by the corona-panic, said “We are only taking repairs. We’ve improved our delivery time to four days from two weeks.” It’s easy to see the difference in philosophy and values for these two businesses. And, I bet you can guess which store got my money!

What is Wagile?

Wagile is a hybrid innovation management system taking advantage of the rigor from a staged-and-gated system while adding in the flexibility of an Agile development process. Most organizations end up becoming overly bureaucratic with staged-and-gated processes, hindering speed-to-market.

On the other hand, many organizations that have tried implementing Agile have struggled, too. Scrum (read more about Scrum here) is the most common way that firms implement Agile in a new product development (NPD) project. Yet, Scrum was designed for software. Companies are challenged by the definition of “done” and in getting sophisticated technical design elements completed in a two-week sprint.

Wagile – part waterfall and part Agile – encourages iterations where necessary and increases customer interactions. But, Wagile maintains the discipline of a waterfall (or staged-and-gated) process.

The Wagile Philosophy

For any project management system to succeed, the values of the organization must support the steps, tasks, and expected outcomes of the process. The Wagile philosophy supports a key innovation goal of speed-to-market.

Move fast
Practice discipline
Understand risks
Engage customers
Provide autonomy

Move fast. The benefit of Scrum is moving fast and creating prototypes quickly. Customers test many different versions of the potential product and designers select the attributes that best satisfy the needs of end-users. The Wagile philosophy includes moving fast to quickly determine the most important features and to eliminate bad concepts early. The end result? Cost and time savings during development.

Practice discipline. While waterfall (staged-and-gated) processes can become overly bureaucratic, Agile projects are often viewed by senior executives as chaotic with ill-defined scope and goals. Wagile enforces discipline by placing critical success metrics on each project. An innovation project does not pass a gate review without a clear go-forward plan. We know that creativity is expanded when the problem is bounded by clear expectations and aspirations so discipline is necessary to win with new products.

Understand risks. Uncertainty is always present in an innovation project. Waterfall processes attempt to manage risk with detailed upfront planning. Yet, plans usually are erroneous in one way or another. You might plan two separate electrical feeds for a fire water system but forget that a utility outage will disable the whole plant. Risks are managed, but not eliminated, with planning.

On the other hand, Agile gives a “hand wave” response to risk. These systems assume you’ll know it when you see it. So, the Wagile philosophy endorses risk management and creates a trigger/ response list to manage risk. However, the Wagile philosophy also recognizes “positive uncertainties” to expand and capitalize on surprise results.

Engage customers. While Scrum includes a specific role for the Product Owner (read more here), end-users are still frequently neglected from the process. Wagile forces customer interactions via specific measures at each gate review (e.g. competitive analysis at the Idea Gate and market testing at the Constructability Gate). Moreover, the role of the Customer Representative (see more about the Wagile Roles and Responsibilities here) is wholly responsible to ensure end-user feedback is both accurate and timely. Design Thinking tools are crucial in gathering information throughout the NPD project. (Join me on 11 November 2020 for a complimentary life design workshop – register here.)

Provide autonomy. Many of my readers know I am a chemical engineer. I suffer from some of the common “nerd” traits of engineers – we need quiet time to deeply study a problem and we need to justify a solution based on data and facts.

The Wagile philosophy supports engineers and product development teams by providing autonomy. Senior executives typically are far removed from customers and daily operations on the factory floor. Let the people with the expertise make the decisions.

Of course, when a decision crosses a threshold of high investment or unusually high risk, the team should consult upper management. But under normal circumstances, a flat organizational structure with responsible decision-making guardrails in place allows an innovation team to function most efficiently and productively.

Apply the Wagile Philosophy

While you may be using a traditional staged-and-gated process for innovation or you’ve been trying to implement Scrum, you can make some giant steps to effectiveness by adopting the Wagile philosophy. Focus on moving fast within a discipline of critical success metrics. Understand the project risks and uncertainties but test those limitations with customers. Feedback from end-users should guide a product development effort. Finally, let the experts do their work and give your teams autonomy to make decisions within their control.

Learn More

Learn more about Wagile Product Development in my Webcast with PDMA on 10 September (register here).

Get the full Wagile Product Development course in a virtual, facilitated workshop on 10 November 2020 (register here). Includes templates, tools, and implementation tips.
Check out where I’m speaking next (click here) and book me for your next event.
Get your copy of The Innovation ANSWER Book available at Amazon (now available on Kindle).
Reference the new PDMA Body of Knowledge, available at Amazon.
Get your NPDP Certification! Join our October online class (Thursdays) following the brand new, 2^nd edition PDMA Body of Knowledge. REGISTER HERE!

About Me

I am inspired by writing, teaching, and speaking at great professional events. 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.

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

Have You Missed the Digital Transformation?

Posted on 06.18.20

I never cease to be amazed at the number of buzzwords that enter our vocabulary. Good ideas become nauseating when entrenched in bad phrases. Of course, the idea of keeping sick people away from old people or those with weakened immune systems is good, yet the phrase “social distancing” is oxymoronic and getting very, very old very, very quickly.

Digital transformation is another phrase that shot off like a firework but really doesn’t have a lot of teeth in its meaning. The idea of digital transformation is that all businesses should read recognize technology is a constant and growing component of products and services. Yet a whole lexicon of “digital” words has sprung up to describe a simple evolution in product innovation.

Digital Innovation

One new phrase is “digital innovation.” It means applying digital technology to increase operational efficiency, drive customer engagement, or to develop innovation products and services. Frankly, this is a very broad definition and can hearken back to the good – but simple – idea that computers can do basic calculations faster than humans. We have been using digital technology throughout my entire life to improve operations. For example, petrochemical plants are controlled via a DCS (digital control systems) that monitors temperature, pressure, flow rates, and valve positions. This is not a “new” concept.

What is somewhat different in the past few decades is evolution of a “digital strategy”. Instead of tacking on an application or programming for a product after it is designed and developed, innovative companies today recognize the importance of integrating technology throughout the development stages.

Digital Integration

Technology generally allows us to move product innovation at a faster pace. Using social media and 3D printing to generate prototypes, new product development (NPD) practitioners garner rapid customer feedback. We conduct many more inexpensive trials before freezing the design.

Further, when software is fully integrated into a product’s functionality, features can be changed and adapted on an ongoing basis. We can customize many of the features and functions of products and services for each individual user. Digital transformation thereby enhances the relationship between the customer and the producer.

Advance Your Digital Transformation

Did you miss the digital transformation? Don’t feel bad if you missed the ascension and collapse of a buzzword. It’s likely your company did not miss opportunities to integrate technology into product design or customer experience. Using technology to analyze large data sets and to cull insights from qualitative measures is commonplace.

If your organization is not integrating applications, software, and IT into product and service development, you do need a digital strategy. The digital strategy also identifies how competitors are using technology to gain market share. If you are falling short, you may need to consider simple steps such as how to reshape your organization using apps or text messages to gain customer feedback.

Don’t Miss Another Opportunity

Language, phrases, and buzzwords don’t tell the whole story. You need to look at your basic processes and systems. Product innovation starts with proven best practices, customized to ensure competitive advantage. If you are trying to integrate digital strategy or trying to figure out what to do emerging from the corona-panic, you must join our online Reset Your Strategy workshop. Click here to pre-register (special rates for unemployed). Contact me at [email protected] or area code (281) phone 787-3979 for more information.

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

About Me

Do You Have a Capability Strategy?

Posted on 06.04.20

Everyone working in innovation has more ideas in time. Every organization has more projects to work than resources. And all of us truly believe in the purpose and benefits of the ideas and projects we create.

Yet, we also have limited resources. There are only 24 hours in a day, seven days in a week. We have limited budgets and talent to accomplish our innovation project vision. It is an age-old problem.

Alongside your business and innovation strategies, it is important to implement a capability strategy. The capability strategy is an offshoot of product portfolio management, allowing an organization to plan and execute projects with higher productivity and efficiency. You will learn to schedule and balance resources and talent to ensure effective product innovation.

Capabilities

In the resource-view of the firm, capabilities and competencies represent the talent and special skills of an organization. For example, the capability to run ultra-high vacuum electron scanning instruments requires not only specialized equipment but competent and trained users. Similarly, a successful restaurant requires specialty software to convey orders to the kitchen and well-trained staff that are attentive to diners’ needs.

Any special equipment or skills of your staff that differentiate your organization are key capabilities. These are listed as strengths on a SWOT analysis (read about Using SWOT to Reset your Innovation Strategy here). You also might work diligently to train and acquire staff with unique competencies. This includes giving employees both formal and informal learning opportunities, on-the-job training, and freedom for idea exploration.

The Capability Plan

In product portfolio management (PPM), senior management prioritizes a list of innovation projects to maximize value. Optimizing resources (time, money, equipment, and people) is a key activity of PPM. In prioritizing active projects (those assigned budgets and resources), the portfolio managers must assess the capability strategy. Where there are competency gaps, provide training or hire new talent with appropriate skills. Where there are deep skills without immediate project utility, re-train or release resources for other work.

“The Toy Box” (an imaginary but representative company) has five innovation projects on the books. One project is nearing completion and will be launched soon. The others are at varying stages of completion, from concept development to final prototype testing.

Because The Toy Box has only a handful of market researchers assigned to innovation projects, they note a gap in the “motors” and “boats” projects. Each project needs the attention of three full-time equivalent (FTE) market researchers to conduct prototype testing during the next three months. The Toy Box employs only four market researchers full-time. This results in a gap of two FTEs for market research with a crisis level gap in the next three months.

Capability Strategy Choices

In this case, The Toy Box has several choices to balance their project needs with required capacity, as follows.

Delay one or both projects
Cancel one or both projects
Hire more (temporary or permanent) market researchers
Re-train other staff to learn market research skills
Advance these projects without market research
Abandon these projects and work on ones that match availability of market research FTEs

Each of these choices is a strategic decision, since the outcomes impact the ability of the organization to execute projects, generate revenues, and satisfy customers. Each choice also has both short-term and long-run cost impacts. Thus, capacity planning is a senior management activity and is a strategic (not operational or tactical) decision.

Your Capability Strategy

Learning and growth are foundations of successful innovation. In your strategy, do you account for training, hiring, and development of human resources? Do you balance talent against project needs in the product portfolio? Do you have a specific and actionable plan to close capability gaps for innovation?

Learn More

If you answered “no” to any of these questions, you need to join our Reset Your Strategy Workshop. You can pre-register here and we’ll send you the full details soon. Contact me at [email protected] or area code (281) phone 787-3979 for more information.

Additional Resources

Innovation and Project Management: It’s NOT about You (PMI Houston Virtual Chapter meeting, Tuesday, 2 June 2020 at 5:30 pm
The Innovation ANSWER Book (available at Amazon and now in Kindle format)
NPDP certification (register for New Product Development Professional self-study here)
20 Tips for Innovation (webinar recording and eBook)
The Innovation PRACTICE Book (coming soon)
Life Design Master Mind Q&A webinar (18 June 2020 at noon CDT, register here at no cost)

About Me

Identifying Your New Innovation Workflow

Posted on 05.21.20

In a recent blog, we discussed how to Use SWOT to Reset Your Business and Innovation Strategy. As has been said, execution overrules strategy any day. Strategy is important because you have to know where you’re going and to explain why you’re headed there. But how you get there and when you get there is even more important.

I often think of strategy as a destination. An analogy is found in planning a vacation. The destination (for me) is often a National Park (where I’m going) so I can go hiking (why I’m going). The SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) yields insights to help in the decision-making process of laying out a business destination and innovation goals that will increase revenue and lead to customer satisfaction.

How I get to a National Park and the timing of vacation are related to workflows. I could fly to a nearby city and rent a car or drive to the park directly from home. Driving usually takes longer but allows me to easily carry bicycles and camping gear. In the end, flying or driving achieves the same goal – hiking in a beautiful place – but the execution of the plan is quite different for each case.

What is a Workflow?

We often don’t think a lot about workflows. Somehow work just gets done. If tasks or activities are behind schedule, someone calls a meeting to figure out why. But it is more efficient to establish processes upfront and follow a standardized path – a workflow – to achieve repeatable success. A workflow is thus a system or process.

Even for tasks and activities as unpredictable as developing a new product or service, we need a process that informs the project team how to convert an idea into a saleable product or service. The workflow illustrates a series of steps with assigned roles and responsibilities. The system also includes decision-making criteria to indicate whether a particular initiative should continue to advance. These decisions are particularly important for product innovation as trends in customer needs, markets, and technology can change during the development life cycle.

Workflow is NOT a Schedule

As good project managers, we always prepare project schedules. These include key milestones and deliverables. Innovation systems often use gate reviews to establish the continued attractiveness of a product idea through design and development. Product portfolio management reviews determine strategic alignment and value-add for innovation projects. The workflow captures these hand-offs and decision points as well as responsible team members to accomplish the work.

A schedule is different than a workflow in that it shows (often as a Gantt chart) which tasks must be done and in what order. A schedule shows overlaps in activities and highlights the critical path that determines the earliest possible completion date for a project. Project managers are held accountable for delayed schedules. In my vacation analogy, the airline has a specific schedule and if I miss the flight, my entire vacation is delayed.

Designing an Innovation Workflow

First, remembering that a workflow is not a schedule, list all the tasks that must be done to transform an idea into a product innovation. The list should include direct tasks (such as prototype testing) as well as indirect activities (such as applying for a patent). Next, as shown in the figure, order and prioritize these tasks to optimize the project goal. Remember that activities like concept testing can be conducted in parallel with technical development and production testing.

Innovation Workflow, copyright Global NP Solutions

As you begin to order the required tasks and activities, you will find that some are dependent on others. This is not unlike putting together a project schedule but as you create a workflow, you can identify methods to optimize your resources when you recognize a dependency. In scheduling, we must increase the time if Task A must be fully completed before Task B starts. Yet in a workflow, or systems analysis, we can collate certain dependent activities or decisions for a management council or portfolio review.

The workflow considers roles and responsibilities, skills and competencies, and training needs of functional staff to complete activities. An effective workflow identifies cross-functional relationships as well as cross-training for various roles so that the project work progresses continually. Then, when hold times or transfers and hand-offs are unacceptable, resource allocation is optimized to eliminate overload (Step 5).

As with all innovation projects, the innovation system itself should be tested. Prototype the workflow on a “typical” new product development (NPD) project to identify bugs, holdups, or bottlenecks in the workflow. Then, as you implement the workflow across all projects and functions, relentlessly streamline the process. Continuous improvement and being aware of bureaucratic sand traps is key to successfully maintaining optimized workflows.

Innovation Workflows

Learn more about the innovation workflow matrix here. You will see many of the common project and innovation management systems categorized by serial or integrated teams on the x-axis and via waterfall or Agile philosophy on the y-axis. Learn more about product innovation in New Product Development Professional (NPDP) certification self-study course. Then, join me on 18 June 2020 at noon CDT (1 pm EDT, 10 am PDT) for a free Q&A webinar on the Life Design Master Mind group where you will apply the Design Thinking workflow to current challenges for knowledge workers maintaining full employment. Register here and we’ll see you soon!

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

A Slow Recovery

Posted on 04.22.20

Watch the 20-second summary and then read on!

Innovation leaders draw on stories to frame the context for new products and features. We use these narratives to understand our customers – from their viewpoints – and to identify needs or opportunities. We draw lessons from these stories to inform our approach to new problems based on how we solved a similar problem in the past. Today, I’m going to share my story of recovery and apply it to how we can approach innovation in the current broken economy.

Don’t Ride Your Bike in the Rain

About three and a half years ago, I broke my shoulder. I rarely think about it now, but without an ability to work out for the past few weeks due to government lockdowns, I have had some discomfort in the joint. Mostly, the accident was an interruption to my work and a nuisance to time management, but recovery from the injury was very slow.

In October 2016, I checked the weather app on my phone. No rain for 82 minutes. “Great,” I thought. That gave me time to ride a 12-mile route to the gym. I assumed I could workout while it rained and head home after the storm passed. Instead, a torrential rain stuck struck me about halfway into my ride. The rain was so heavy I couldn’t see 10-feet ahead of me.

Having had “safety” drilled into me from my work years at a petrochemical plant, I (ironically) decided to ride on the shoulder. I thought it would be “safer’ than riding on the road like I usually do. Unfortunately, I was unfamiliar with the shoulder which had lots of litter and I struck a large discontinuity in the pavement. The next thing I knew, I was lying on the ground and couldn’t lift my arm.

Ten days later, I had surgery to piece together the crushed bone. The break was so severe that the doctor had ordered an artificial joint to be available in the surgery room in case the fragments of bone were too small to put together again.

Keeping in mind that I’m normally very active – I don’t even know how to sit still for five minutes – the rehabilitation was excruciating for me. The broken arm had to be in a sling for six weeks without movement to fuse the bone. Six weeks! And then physical therapy involved only stretching for several weeks. I laughed when they finally allowed me to do bicep curls with a one-lb. weight. I was used to bench-pressing 75% of my body weight.

I worked and worked at the physical therapy. They recommended doing at-home exercises a few times per week. I did the exercises three times per day. At the rehab center, I ramped up the weight, intensity, and duration of each exercise until I was the first patient in rehab to be released from the doctor’s care.

For the next 18 months, I went to the gym religiously, sometimes twice per day. When I traveled, I went to the hotel gym. On car trips, I carried my own dumbbells and stretch bands so I could work out and heal quicker. My overriding goal was to get back to normal. And after 18 months, I could bench press just over 50% of my body weight. (I lost more than five pounds in the first week after my accident and didn’t gain it back until this lockdown.) This was/is a slow recovery!

Today’s Economic Depression

My shoulder has never gone back to “normal”. I have lost flexibility and I feel an odd tightness at times – especially when I can’t workout. On the other hand, I still love to ride my bike and bought a new road bike a year ago, converting (for the first time ever) to clipless pedals.

The economic collapse caused by the government’s reactions to a virus impacting less than 1% of the population will have a slow recovery. We are witnessing skyrocketing unemployment and debt which will surely be addressed with increased taxes and inflation. Our way of life will never again be “normal”. Like my shoulder, it might take 18 months to get close, but we will never have the flexibility we had before. After all, like lemmings, we all dutifully take our shoes off for TSA with some strange assumption that the action makes us “safe”.

Likewise, society will sacrifice rights for a vision of “safety”. Without scientific data, people who are not sick will wear masks because a government bureaucrat told them to do it. People will order food delivered to their home instead of shopping. We will accept – as a society – a deterioration of civil rights in exchange for a continued facade of “safety” without explanation.

Improvement

Instead of accepting that this is the so-called “new normal”, I challenge every innovation leader to work on improvement. Just as I did after I broke my shoulder, we can test new products and ideas three times as frequently. We can find new ways to do things so we can get back a semblance of normal. But the journey will be slow. It’s hard to rapidly influx a fearful public back into jobs when we’re told there are large groups of people who might have better financial benefits with stimulus than through the pride of getting up every day to go to work.

What Can You Do?

It takes hard work to recover from a sports injury. The physical therapist told me I had to do more work to recover than an old person who had a shoulder surgery because I had been in great shape. Our economy was roaring and now it is completely collapsed. We have a long way to go. The only way we get there – as innovation leaders – is through rigorous dedication to best practices. Like physical exercise, best practices help us recover, even if the recovery is excruciatingly slow.

If you want to speed your organization’s recovery during this economic downturn, please join me for a free webinar on 30 April 2020 at 1 pm CDT (2 pm EDT, 11 am PDT) for 20 Tips of Innovation in 2020. Each unique company attendee receives a complimentary Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team™ Personal Development assessment and coaching session. Register here.

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.