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PMP-Strategy

The Wagile Philosophy

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
Copyright Global NP Solutions

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, 2nd 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 info@simple-pdh.com or area code 281 + phone 787-3979 for more information on coaching for entrepreneurs and innovators.

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A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.

Have You Missed the Digital Transformation?

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 info@globalnpsolutions.com or area code (281) phone 787-3979 for more information.

© Simple-PDH.com

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 info@simple-pdh.com or area code 281 + phone 787-3979 for more information on coaching for entrepreneurs and innovators.

Do You Have a Capability Strategy?

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 info@globalnpsolutions.com or area code (281) phone 787-3979 for more information.

Additional Resources

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 info@simple-pdh.com or area code 281 + phone 787-3979 for more information on coaching for entrepreneurs and innovators.

Identifying Your New Innovation Workflow

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. 

Yellowstone National Park, 2018

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!

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A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.

A Slow Recovery

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. 

© Simple-PDH.com

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 info@simple-pdh.com or area code 281 + phone 787-3979 for more information on coaching for entrepreneurs and innovators.

What to Do When Waiting

When I was in grad school at the University of Washington in Seattle, I did not own a car.  I took the bus to campus and home to my apartment in the Northgate mall area.  While I was on the bus, I would read journal articles related to my research project.  It was great to have 20 minutes of uninterrupted time to concentrate on science. 

Recently, my husband and I took a two-week vacation to Scotland.  We used public transit and I spent a lot of time on the train recording our stories in my travel journal.  A lot of trains and buses have Wi-Fi and I noticed a lot of people texting or looking at Facebook on their phones.  Few people were reading or chatting.

Read on or watch the 40-second video summary.

Waiting Time

We spend a lot of time in our lives waiting.  Whether we are on the bus or train commuting or we are in a queue at the store, we often face idle time.  Most of us today grab our phones and surf the internet or text friends.  We fill the waiting time with non-value adding activities.

Now, I’m going to ask you to do an experiment.  Close your eyes and think back 10 years.  A decade ago, only a few of us had smartphones and there really was not Facebook.  What did you do when you were waiting? 

Maybe you chatted with the person in line ahead of you and learned the news of your community.  Maybe you let your mind wander and you came up with creative ideas.  Or maybe you spent that time planning strategic actions for your job or business.  Maybe the waiting time just gave you a chance to catch your breath and relax for a few minutes out of a busy day.

Creativity in Waiting

When you have little to occupy your mind and your thoughts wander, creativity sparks.  The subconscious mind is constantly working on our problems and challenges, and it is when we relax that those creative ideas can germinate.  That’s one reason why people claim to get good ideas in the shower.  So far, there is no technology distracting us in the bathroom – yet! 

So, I’ll ask you to try another experiment.  The next time you are waiting – on a bus or in a queue – resist your phone.  Just breathe and observe what’s around you.  Watch people and their patterns of behavior.  Consider the simple solutions that surround you while you’re waiting:  an automatic bus ticket machine, the cash drawer opening and locking, and candy bars stacked near the checkout at the grocery store.  Is there a simple, creative solution for your challenge?  Can you borrow one of these ideas? 

Strategic Waiting

Sometimes we need to concentrate on a specific problem.  Waiting time is another opportunity to generate strategic solutions.  Sitting at your computer, you’ve got files and emails calling for your attention.  But when you’re waiting, you literally have free time with no distractions or interruptions. 

While you are next waiting, resist your phone and consider your biggest strategic problem.  Now, challenge yourself to come up with three ideas to implement that would solve that problem.  While you are waiting, envision exactly how you will execute each plan, who you will need to help you, and what the end result looks like.  If you need to research something, plan to do it later.  You must resist your phone to brainstorm a strategic plan.

How to Use Waiting Time

All of us have waiting time whether it is during our commute or in queues at stores.  Instead of filling the time with quick and easy gossip on Facebook, use your time to find creative and strategic solutions to innovation challenges.  Resist your phone and try to generate at least three new ideas and three action plans for implementation.  You’ll be surprised with how much you can accomplish in 10 minutes! 

Learn About Design Thinking

The techniques of generating three creative ideas and three specific strategic plans are tools from Design Thinking.  Design thinking is a creative and collaborative problem-solving approach for identifying customer needs and designing solutions from an empathetic viewpoint.  You can apply Design Thinking tools to new product development and innovation and to your own life or business challenges.  Sign up here for a free, 60 minute Q&A webinar (21 Oct 2019 at noon CDT) on Life Design.  I’ll be sharing more tools from Design Thinking at the Institute of Management Consultants (IMC) conference on 6 October in Dallas, TX.  Stop by and say “hi”.  I’d love to hear how you are generating creative and strategic solutions during your waiting times!

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A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.

Establishing an Innovation Baseline

A few months ago, I changed my cats’ food to only hairball formula.  One of my cats tends to get really excited when the food comes out, eats too much, and makes a mess.  He also has a tendency to eat things that are not food (like ribbon, yarn, and dental floss) and the hairball formula apparently helps him to digest the organic, non-food items. 

The cats’ hairball food

When I took my furry friends to the veterinarian for their annual checkup and shots, she weighed them.  I periodically weigh my cats, too, so I expected the number she reported.  But what I had not expected was her level of concern.  They had both last 1-2 lbs. over a one-year timeframe. 

My vet gave two conclusions that needed further testing.  One was that since they were eating only hairball food, their weight loss could be attributed to the higher fiber content.  I guess just like humans, if felines eat more fiber, there not as hungry for treats and snacks.  The other alternative she gave was that thyroid conditions – especially at their age – could cause weight loss.  Therefore, she ordered a thyroid level test for both cats.

Establishing a Baseline

In all science and engineering, we want to establish a baseline.  When we understand the average, current performance, then we can design an improvement plan.  The veterinarian had looked at one baseline – cat weight one year ago – and compared it to the current state.  Out of a degree of caution, she ordered the thyroid test to establish a baseline in a new measure of their health. 

Cartoon Measuring a Baseline

Innovation success depends on knowing where you are today and where you want to be in the future.  Innovation, like any science or engineering problem, requires establishing a baseline to design an improvement plan.  Or, as in the case of the thyroid test for my cats, the measurement determines if a problem really exists. 

Measuring the Innovation Baseline

You can measure the health of your innovation ecosystem with the Innovation Health Assessment.  There are two purposes in completing the Innovation Health Assessment for your organization.  First, the results establish a baseline for the maturity of your new product development practices.  Everyone who completes the innovation health assessment will receive a customized Innovation Health Assessment Report comparing your innovation ecosystem to other organizations in the industry.  Thus, a second outcome of completing a health assessment is to benchmark against others, both average and top-tier organizations. 

You can complete the Innovation Health Assessment here.  We do ask that you register at www.Simple-PDH.com so that we can monitor the database integrity.  Rest assured that your information will be kept private, and your name and email will never be given to a third party.  Register here – check out the video below for instructions on how to register and answer the survey questions in the Innovation Health Assessment.  And unlike the thyroid test (which was very expensive), the innovation health assessment is free to you. 

What’s Next?

You need to have a baseline of the current state to understand the health of your system.  The cats’ thyroid tests came back in the normally expected range and they seem pretty happy eating the healthier hairball food.  Importantly, the thyroid test results provide a specific baseline for these two felines who might be of the general cat species but are definitely two unique bodies. 

Likewise, completing the Innovation Health Assessment allows your firm to establish a benchmark for your innovation ecosystem as compared to a cross industry average.  Moreover, the Innovation Health Assessment Report provides results specific to your innovation program and new product development teams, lending insight for any appropriate enhancements. 

Bonus:  If you complete all the questions in the Innovation Health Assessment survey by 30 June 2019 and enter code “Blog 19”, you will be entered to win a $15 Starbucks gift card through a random drawing.  If you have questions about the health of your innovation system or want to learn more about New Product Development Best Practices, join me on Thursdays in July for more in-depth knowledge transfer.  Please email me for more information at info at Simple-PDH.com

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A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.    Learn.    Earn.    Simple.

Visualizing NPD Solutions

Successful new product development (NPD) links many perspectives from the end-user or customer, designers, manufacturers, and marketers.  No single entity can develop a new product solution that meets customer needs and profit objectives by itself.  Yet, incorporating and balancing these various viewpoints is often a challenge for innovators.

Design Thinking

A set of tools that have become popular in the last few years are those in design thinking.  Design thinking is a creative problem-solving approach that systematically expands the potential ideas to address a given customer need.  The following figure illustrates the design thinking model.

In discovery, an NPD team uses tools like observation and ethnographic research to study potential problems.  Customers are an integral part of the design thinking model because they show the NDP team how they approach problems today and which solutions, or workarounds, they employ to address those issues.  The discovery phase of innovation is tremendously important since it sets the stage for all subsequent phases of work. 

In the define phase, the NPD team uses design thinking tools to clarify the problem.  While there might have been several challenges and customer needs noted in the discovery phase, carefully defining the problem is crucial to solving it.  We recommend the ITEM Method of Problem-Solving in which the problem statement is initiated, tuned, evaluated and measured.  The ITEM Method can be used as a standalone problem-solving tool or as a subset of tools within the design thinking framework.

Once the NPD team feels they have a concise customer need defined, the team will move to solution generation phases of work.  This includes creating lots of potential solutions and testing them quickly.  Rapid prototype testing is an important tool for innovation so that poor concepts can be eliminated.  Moreover, customers are involved in the solution generation process in successful innovation ventures.  You can include end-users and consumers in brainstorming sessions and certainly they should be included in evaluating prototypes. 

Visualizing Solutions

In his book, “Product Design and Innovation,” Carlos Rodriguez identifies three types of analytical thinking within the framework of design.  These strategic viewpoints can help an innovation team expand their solution sets to successfully identify options to address customer needs.

Deductive Reasoning

In the first category of problem-solving tools, deductive logic is used to test product solutions.  In deductive testing, we already know the expected outcome or result, and we are measuring whether the new product will deliver that value.  This type of problem-solving uses the argument of “if-then” and accepts conclusions justified by the hypothesis.

For example, deductive logic is applied to an automotive innovation.  The hypothesis is that “consumers want faster cars.”  Design thinking tools and the ITEM Method of problem-solving identify ways to increase acceleration through engine and transmission improvements.  Deductive testing then proposes that “if the engine has more horsepower, then the car will accelerate faster.”  Note that deductive testing is easily measured and describes “what” the design features do.

Inductive Reasoning

Inductive logic will extrapolate beyond the measurable deductive testing.  Instead of designing around the “what” of the innovation, NPD teams use inductive testing to evaluate “how” to accomplish a product solution.  This necessitates a broader viewpoint of the customer problem and back tracks from the solve stages of the design thinking framework to the identify stages.

For instance, instead of jumping to designing a faster car, inductive new product development will as the question of “how can people travel faster”.  In this case, the solution space is expanded from faster cars to high-speed rail, airplanes, and maybe even a hyperloop.  Inductive reasoning will generate more potential solutions using brainstorming and promotes solutions strategies beyond a given product feature.

Abductive Reasoning

Finally, abductive reasoning drives disruptive innovation by exploring both the “what” and “how” of a solution space.  In this context, we are focused on delivering the most customer value by utilizing skills and competencies of a cross-functional NPD team that includes the customer.  Abductive problem-solving in NPD includes design activities like observation, creating customer journey logs, and customer empathy maps. 

Continuing our example of faster travel, abductive design will go back to the discover stage of the design thinking model to identify the true customer problem.  We ask:  “Why does she want to travel faster?” and “What does he accomplish with faster travel?”  The answers may lead to NPD solutions that are disruptive or radical.

In our example, wd find that people want faster business travel so they can minimize time spent away from home and family.  This leads to a product solution that has nothing to do with the person leaving home – instead, we implement a telecommuting option and hold a virtual meeting via webinar.

Visualizing NPD Solutions

Design thinking tools offer a broad approach to new product development that helps identify the best solution for customer problems.  Using deductive testing in design and development, we can improve product features and characteristics.  This helps maintain and sustain a product or brand through the maturity stages in the product life cycle.

NPD teams can use inductive design to broaden the scope of the problem.  Rather than assuming an improvement of an existing product, inductive testing challenges the NPD team to design alternative approaches to solve the customers’ problems.  Inductive testing involves design thinking tools like rapid prototyping and concept testing to ensure that customer needs are met.

Finally, radical and disruptive innovation can be achieved when the innovation team steps back to observe customers’ problems with the broadest perspective.  Instead of improving existing product solutions or creating tangential new products, abductive reasoning allows the NPD team to craft delightful and unique products and services that truly address end-user challenges.

Learn More

Feel free to contact me for more information design thinking.  I can be reached at info@simple-pdh.com or 281-280-8717.  I love helping individuals, teams, and organizations achieve their highest innovation goals!

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A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.  Learn.  Earn.  Simple.

Design Thinking for Innovation

I recently read an article in which the author proposed that design thinking was nothing new and simply repackaged a known set of tools. While I can agree somewhat with the author’s perspective on tools, I cannot agree that design thinking for innovation fits with the status quo. Design thinking proves a unique perspective for innovation and new product development (NPD) that is often missed with more systematic, institutionalized processes.

What is Design Thinking?

Design thinking is a collaborative and creative problem-solving methodology utilizing customer empathy to drive innovation. The design thinking process is very simple: identify the problem and solve the problem. However, the steps to identify the problem (discover and define) are iterative as are the steps to solve the problem (create and test). It is important to cycle between the “identify” and “solve” steps to ensure the right customer challenge is being addressed with a user-friendly solution.

Design thinking uses several tools throughout this simple process to help innovators and NPD practitioners understand and build empathy for the end-user. Some of these tools include:

  • Personas,
  • Customer journey maps,
  • Customer empathy maps,
  • Brainstorming,
  • Brainwriting,
  • Concept testing, and
  • Rapid prototyping.

What is Innovation?

While design thinking provides a methodology, framework, and a set of tools to identify and solve customer problems, it is not innovation by itself. Innovation is an act of creating and introducing something new or different to a marketplace in which consumers exchange their hard-earned dollars for a product, service, or application that gives them some benefit.

Thus, innovations are different than inventions since utilization of the features is more important than the recognition of the possibilities. Most innovations deliver a profit to a company; though, some government agencies and non-profit organizations pursue innovation to increase productivity or efficiency without a profit motive.

Innovations can improve or enhance existing products, services, or applications. Process improvements that remove manufacturing or distribution bottlenecks are innovations, and even processes and systems that improve innovation itself are considered innovations. Typically, we think of innovations as adding features or functionalities to new products. Other common innovations involve the introduction of new products or services that use new technology.

For example, the ability to scan various hotels and pricing through a smartphone app is an innovation because it utilizes new technology to deliver a new service and brings a profit to the parent company. Individual consumers are happy to exchange money (directly or indirectly) for the app because it offers them a benefit of convenience and cost-savings in booking a hotel room.

Design Thinking to Improve Innovation

Unfortunately, too many companies simply jump to the “creating” part of innovation without truly understanding customer needs. Failed products and service litter the R&D and marketing histories of most firms. Why does this happen?

In presuming a customer’s problem and devising a technical solution with a rigorous, institutionalized NPD process, many firms end up failing. Innovation success is built on understanding customer needs and desires. And this is where design thinking offers a unique perspective to NPD.

Recall that design thinking is a collaborative problem-solving method relying on empathy to design and develop innovative solutions. Empathy is different than observation. Empathy involves walking in someone else’s shoes to gain a holistic understanding in experiencing their problems. Once you have empathy, you “own” the problem, and you are vested in the right solution.

For example, nursing students are often taught empathy for their elderly patients by wearing vision-restricting goggles, bulky gloves, and over-sized shoes. These odd clothing items help future nurses empathize with their patients because they have actually experienced what it feels like to have a challenge in seeing, handling items, and walking. NPD practitioners can use these same tools to better understand challenges of the elderly across a wide spectrum and to develop novel products and services for this target market.

Design thinking also helps to ensure that innovators solve the right problem. Rather than assuming an elderly person has difficulty opening a pill bottle, an empathic developer might identify the problem as the number of different pills that the elderly patient must take. Crating a solution to the administration of many prescriptions is very different than creating an easy-to-open pill bottle.

Innovation Needs Design Thinking

While many of the tools of design thinking have been known for years, innovators cannot ignore this new approach to product development. With a cross-functional focus on the customer and in developing deep empathy for his/her challenges, NPD practitioners can unlock the right problems to solve. Innovations that discover and define customer problems and that create and test solutions by collaborating with the customer are the most successful. Innovators using design thinking are more successful in meeting customer needs and can launch products faster.

To Learn More

To learn how to apply design thinking to enrich innovation, please join us in Life Design Master Mind (LDMM), Innovation Master Mind (IMM), or New Product Development Professional (NPDP) certification. LDMM is designed for your personal growth by applying design thinking tools to finding the next step in life. IMM is a 6-month peer coaching group that allows you to extend your NPD knowledge beyond NPDP certification and to collaborate with other CIOs and innovation managers. You will realize improved efficiency and growth from LDMM, IMM, or through NPDP certification which entails a deep dive into strategy and NPD processes, including design thinking. Feel free to contact me at info@simple-pdh.com or 281-280-8717. At Simple-PDH.com where we want to help you gain and maintain your professional certifications. You can study, learn, and earn – it’s simple!

 

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

© Simple-PDH.com

A division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

 

The Product Post-Launch Review

Every new product development (NPD) should have a post-launch review.  In fact, I normally recommend three separate reviews to ensure various learning perspectives for innovation.  But, before we get into how often a post-launch review is held, let’s first discuss three important characteristics of innovation lessons learned.

What is a Post-Launch Review?

Post-launch reviews are lessons learned audits of new product development projects.  The goal of a post-launch review is communication.  NPD teams need to communicate successes, so they can institutionalize process and practices that build project efficiency.  Teams also communicate financial results of projects to senior management.  Finally, NPD project leaders communicate best practices among themselves to share learnings and to improve project planning for the next initiative.

In the case of communicating among NPD project leaders, a post-launch review report may not provide sufficient detail.  Often, Chief Innovation Officers (CIOs), NPD managers, and R&D leaders need on-going support and communication beyond their internal ranks.  For rapid learning and best practice transfer I recommend that NPD project leaders participate in peer discussions with others in similar roles.  Peer-coaching through a master mind group allows NPD mangers and CIOs to quickly learn and translate best practices and to benchmark NPD processes across a variety of industries.

While the goal of a post-launch review is communication, the objective is learning, especially learning from failure.  While failure doesn’t always feel good, innovation success is built on the lessons learned from ideas and concepts that didn’t work.  NPD processes are designed to gain early customer feedback so that features desired by consumers are included in new product designs.  Other features, functions, and attributes are not incorporated into product designs if customer feedback is negative.  Learning is fundamental to long-term NPD success.

Characteristics of a Post-Launch Review

So, with the definition of a post-launch review to drive feedback, learning, and communication to support continuous improvement, what are the characteristics of this lessons learned audit?  First, it must be prompt.  Next, it should be periodic.  And, finally, the post-launch review must be propelling.

Prompt

There are three key times to hold a product post-launch review (PLR).  The first post-launch review (PLR‑1) is held as the new product is commercialized.  At this point, the goals of communication and learning focus on how the NPD process worked.  Are there special practices that allowed the team to work together more effectively or enhanced team productivity?  Were there any policies, forms, or templates that created bureaucracy and could be eliminated from future projects?  How long was each NPD process phase and what were the associated costs?

In my work, I have observed that team cohesiveness is often discussed during the PLR‑1.  Team members who are familiar with their counterpart’s working style typically generate results quicker.  Some variation in team composition helps drive creativity through diverse perspectives as well.

Periodic

The first post-launch review is held promptly as the new product is launched.  Next, there are periodic lessons learned reviews held to monitor the product and the response of the market.  Whereas the PLR‑1 focuses on communication among team members and improvement for NPD processes, PLR-2 and PLR‑3 also add emphasis on customer acceptance and the financial performance of the product.

PLR-2 is optional, yet I highly recommend this lessons learned audit step if the product sales cycle is long.  The NPD team and senior executives attain early sales information to determine the acceptance of the new product in its intended market.  Typical measures include sales volume, revenue, and market penetration.  Other variables to consider are degree of product cannibalization, competitive response, and market share.  Quality issues and marketing messages are adjusted as necessary, depending on the PLR‑2 feedback vs. expectations at product launch.

All projects must undergo a PLR‑3 audit.  This lessons learned review is conducted one year after commercialization or at the completion of a full sales cycle for the new product.

Like the PLR‑2, the PLR‑3 focuses on customer satisfaction measures and financial metrics.  If both are positive, NPD teams begin investigating potential product improvements for next generation products, derivatives, and enhancements.  If either customer satisfaction or financial results are less than expected, senior executives make a decision to revamp the product or to pull it form the production schedule.

I have worked with some companies that do not perform periodic lessons learned reviews.  Bad products with poor customer acceptance and unattractive cost-benefit ratios live on.  This is mostly due to the lack of a decision rather than making the wrong decision.

Propelling

In addition to learning and communication, the purpose of the post-launch reviews is to keep the organization looking forward.  Results, data, and outcomes of the three post-launch reviews will propel the firm to future innovations.  These next generation NPD projects may branch from the earlier successes of product launches.  Or the next NPD project may result from learnings of what didn’t go well during a prior project.

In propelling the organization forward, the post-launch review must drive focus on the customer and the internal processes for innovation.  Companies that regularly conduct post-launch reviews for all NPD projects are more efficient and productive in time-to-market because of best practice transfers.  Again, you can benchmark and speed innovation implementation by participating in an industry master mind, benefiting from facilitated peer-coaching.

The 3Ps of a Post-Launch Review

Post-launch reviews are often neglected in the busy-ness of post-commercialization activities.  Yet, the lessons learned that are communicated and transferred among NPD project leaders are of infinite value to long-term innovation success.  Post-launch reviews must be prompt, periodic, and propelling.

To Learn More

There are two ways to learn how to conduct effective post-launch reviews and drive speed-to-market.  Please join us in the Innovation Master Mind (IMM) group or a New Product Development Professional (NPDP) certification workshop.  IMM is a 6-month peer coaching group that allows you to extend your NPD knowledge beyond NPDP certification and to collaborate with other CIOs and innovation managers.  You will realize improved efficiency and growth from LDMM, IMM, or through NPDP certification which entails a deep dive into strategy and NPD processes, including design thinking.  Feel free to contact me at info@simple-pdh.com or 281-280-8717.  At Simple-PDH.com where we want to help you gain and maintain your professional certifications.  You can study, learn, and earn – it’s simple!

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

© Simple-PDH.com

A division of Global NP Solutions, LLC