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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  

 

Leading an Agile Team

While less than 20 years old, the agile philosophy has immensely impacted how we do projects, interact on teams, and manage resources. First applied to software and IT projects, the agile theory emphasizes people over processes, and experimentation over documentation. Today, we apply the flexibility of agile management to tangible product development as well as computer-based projects.

One of the greatest challenges for an organization that transitions from a traditional project management approach is the role of managers. In a waterfall methodology, the PM directs tasks and activities of the project by assigning work to individual team member. S/he monitors task completion as well as the overall project budget and schedule. The project manager’s role is to keep things on track and to implement corrective actions if there is a deviation from the plan.

In sharp contrast, an agile project leader is a servant leader. In this role, the project leader helps to smooth the pathway for the project team by removing roadblocks and streamlining paperwork and systems as needed. The agile project leader’s role is to engage, empower, and encourage.

Engage

In traditional projects, the project manager is a manager by definition. S/he has authority and influence. Accomplishing the written project goals is the primary objective of the project manager. Success is measured by achieving the project scope on-time and on-budget.

As the agile philosophy emphasizes people and interactions over plans and contracts, an agile project leader will focus on building relationships. Engaging the project team and the customer are within the roles and responsibility of an agile team leader.

Notice, too, that we don’t say “agile project manager;” instead we use the term “agile team leader”. This is quite intentional as a manager expects to have the organization line up behind his/her decisions and act on these. In contrast, the agile team leader engages the team in decision-making processes.

Peculiar to new product development (NPD), agile team leaders facilitate customer engagement. Products are designed, developed, and tested to meet customer needs. Engaging customers to gain insights and preferences throughout the life cycle of the NPD project is critical to success in commercializing goods and services.

Empower

It is probably apparent in the agile philosophy that the project leader serves to empower the team. Because relationships are placed higher than documentation, systems, and plans, the servant leader works to establish team autonomy. Agile NPD teams, like traditional project teams, are made up of cross-functional representatives. What’s different, however, is that the agile NPD team members are empowered to act autonomously in their creative design. The goal is to create a product desired by customers – not to match a complicated scope of work etched in stone.

Agile NPD teams are also empowered to meet with potential customers directly to test concepts, feature ideas, and prototypes. This feedback is incredibly valuable to the development of a new product and will help the team with speed-to-market. Ultimately, these relationships serve not only to empower external interactions but also help to bond the agile NPD team to a common mission.

Encourage

A final role of the agile project leader is to encourage the team. Of course, any good leader demonstrates empathy and encouragement, but it is a special characteristic of successful agile NPD team leaders.

Any NPD project faces failures and setbacks. It’s a matter of course in our chosen field. We find that the technology didn’t work as we had hoped, the market size is dwindling, or the customers didn’t like that feature after all. This is discouraging to NPD project team members who have worked hard and long hours to meet the challenge. It is normal to feel a bit depressed about these results.

An effective project leader recognizes the highs and lows in NPD project work and encourages the team. One form of encouragement is simply a reminder of the overall mission of the team. Most products and services are designed to improve customers’ lives and this focus can re-energize the team to establish new energy to accomplish goals. A benefit of the agile methodology is the frequent feedback from potential customers which is motivating in and of itself.

Traits of an Agile Leader

Agile leaders for NDP project teams are successful when they engage, empower, and encourage the team. Engaging with the team and with customers helps to provide focus on the best design. Teams accomplish goals and achieve better results when they are empowered to act autonomously and to build strong customer relationships. Finally, team leaders are effective when they encourage and reward team members as the team experiments with various ideas, concepts, and behaviors.

In our on-line tutorial on Design Thinking and in our Agile NPD course, we discuss failing fast and failing often to drive learning. However, we must first categorize the type of failure to benefit from lessons learned. Not all failures offer a growth opportunity, but we must be open and honest when we do encounter such circumstances. Join us for the Agile NPD course or check out our self-study and other NPDP Workshops. 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!

 

Reading Recommendation

We discuss different customer insight methodologies in NPDP Certification Prep: A 24-Hour Study Guide, and you can find additional references at https://globalnpsolutions.com/services/npd-resources/.   Some other books you might enjoy:

 

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

© Simple-PDH.com

A division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

What We Can Learn from Failure

Any project, product, or engineering manager knows that we can learn from failure. Sometimes it is painful, but the learning often outweighs the misery of a lost opportunity. Learning new approaches or alternative ways of doing things is how we advance over professions, personal growth, and even technology.

In “Designing Your Life,” by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, three types of failures are described. The authors argue – and I agree – that we should approach “learning from failure” differently depending on the category of the missed opportunity.

Screw-Ups

The first type of failure is a simple screw-up. This is also known as a mistake or error. We know what to do to be successful in the situation, but something just happened to prevent the right thing from happening.

We don’t really learn from screw-ups because we know the right thing to do already. Just this one time, something prevented us from acting in the normal way we would. Maybe you missed your spouse’s birthday because you were swamped at work and travelling across the globe. While the excuse might not pacify your spouse, you have never missed a birthday in over 20 years of marriage. It’s just a screw-up and won’t happen again. You can put a reminder on your calendar or design checklists to prevent future screw-ups.

About a year ago, I had a large-sized screw-up. I was stressed over the impacts of Hurricane Harvey and my father-in-law who had entered hospice care at the time. So, I accidentally copied the wrong course materials into one of the college classes I teach online. Immediately, students swamped my email asking if they had enrolled in the wrong course and why were all the assignment due dates for last semester. Some were accusatory, indicating that the Chapter 1 material had literally changed (it hadn’t). Unfortunately, some students didn’t even notice the error (but that’s a story for another day).

At first, I agonized over how to correct my mistake. I tried of a variety of technical solutions and realized there was not going to be an easy fix. More importantly, I let go of the emotion attached to making a big screw-up and acknowledged that it was a just a one-time error. In the future, I now know that I need to double-check before I double-click!

And I really can’t learn anything from this screw-up that will improve my performance as a professor or enhance my knowledge about becoming a better project, product, or engineering manager. We need to be forgiving of ourselves when we screw-up and then move on.

Blind Spots

Burnett and Evans call the second type of failure a “weakness”. These are errors and lost opportunities that we recognize occurring over and over again but are arenas in our lives in which cannot (or will not) improve. Like a screw-up, we know the right action to take but the task is not viewed as important enough to change our behavior. Continuing to make the same mistake may cause us a headache yet we (stubbornly) do so again.

Because blind spots do not cause us long-term emotional or physical distress, we don’t learn from these failures. There really isn’t any opportunity for growth through correcting these weaknesses, either. For example, I tend to put off bookkeeping until the credit card bill arrives. I know that a more effective strategy is to do bookkeeping on a weekly basis (which would also keep my desk clear of papers, invoices, and receipts), but I have a blind spot. I don’t like doing bookkeeping and because the task gets completed anyway, there is no long-term pain that will force me to change my behavior. The worst-case scenario is a small headache as I rush to input revenue and expense data when the bill arrives in the mail.

Growth Opportunities

The failures that we value as project, product, and engineering managers are growth opportunities. These are the reason why we do lessons learned reviews to identify how we can improve future activities to yield better performance. The growth opportunities are the times when we see errors, mistakes, and failures from different perspectives – and when we can calmly and clearly identify a better approach to solving a problem.

During my career, I supported marketing and maintaining customers for a chemical catalyst material. Luckily, I had the opportunity to learn from a failed communication. A client from an Asian country was sending frequent emails asking for a specific technical solution to a problem their plant was facing. There were a half dozen or more names on the cc: list of the email. I didn’t know these folks at the customer’s plant, but I assumed that since my contact had included them on the email, my response should also include these people.

So, I carefully explained the operational adjustment that was necessary and hit the “send” button. The next day, I found the same question in my email inbox with an added statement that implied I had not addressed their problem. I rephrased my response. And the next day, the question re-appeared. I could sense the customer’s growing discontent and frustration. I, too, was puzzled why the plant wouldn’t implement my solution.

After a few rounds of emails that went no place, I decided to reply only to my contact with no one else on the distribution list. This resulted in a new response. He was grateful for the solution offered and it worked perfectly! I learned from this failure.

First, in his cultural context, my contact need to retain “face” in the situation. He could achieve this by providing the solution on his own to his colleagues. With my “reply to all,’ I was robbing him of the chance to demonstrate technical competence in an emotionally-charged environment.

Next, and more importantly, I learned that communication is sensitive to each independent situation. My German customers would have been annoyed had I not used “reply to all”. Today, I like to consider each name on an email list to determine whether its of value to the individual. I also like to consider the social and cultural environment of the communication. And, instead of “assuming,” I will ask.

In short, I learned a lot from this failure that has given me opportunities for both personal and professional growth.

Learning from (Some) Failures

When we take a look back at our, we should categorize the failures and learn from the growth opportunities. There’s no use in losing sleep over a screw-up. It’s just that – a mistake. The right approach is to recognize and acknowledge the error, sincerely apologize, and move on.

Likewise, with blind spots or weaknesses, we should use scheduling tools, checklists, reminders, and other time management tools to help us be more efficient. Yet, it’s okay to acknowledge that changing our behavior in these situations is of limited value in advancing a career as a project, product, or engineering manager. Eliminating the blind spot might free us of minor headaches but won’t necessarily make us better people.

Instead, as you review your performance throughout a day, examine the failures for growth opportunities. These failures, errors, or mistakes take you by surprise. You observed an outcome you didn’t expect. Why? What could be done differently if you encounter a similar situation tomorrow? How would a trusted friend or mentor approach that same situation?

In our on-line tutorial on Design Thinking and in our Agile NPD course, we discuss failing fast and failing often to drive learning. However, we must first categorize the type of failure to benefit from lessons learned. Not all failures offer a growth opportunity, but we must be open and honest when we do encounter such circumstances. Join us for the Agile NPD course or check out our self-study and other NPDP Workshops. 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!

 

Reading Recommendation

We discuss different customer insight methodologies in NPDP Certification Prep: A 24-Hour Study Guide, and you can find additional references at https://globalnpsolutions.com/services/npd-resources/.  Some other books you might enjoy:

 

Speaking on Design Thinking

  • 25 July 2018 at PMI-Houston Energy Corridor Lunch and Learn
  • 15 August 2018 at Houston Organizational Development Network Meeting
  • 7 September 2018 at Texas Association of Change Management Professionals Conference

 

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

© Simple-PDH.com

A division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

 

 

Principles of Integrated Product Development

Integrated Product Development (IPD) is a framework to help management and active project teams reach innovation goals. Originating in government systems, IPD is a management theory that promotes simultaneous integration of multi-disciplinary teams and concurrent engineering. By utilizing the life cycle concept of development and involving all team members early in the design phases, products are more customer-focused and achieve operability objectives with less rework and waste.

When new product development (NPD) processes are characterized in two dimensions – management philosophy and team structure – IPD is considered an integrated waterfall system. IPD processes, such as systems engineering, rely heavily on documentation and formal reviews. These gateways must be passed before a project can move to the next phase. Thus, IPD systems are typical examples of waterfall processes.

On the other hand, because IPD processes take advantage of cross-functional teams, they are characterized by integrated team structures. Team members from purchasing, maintenance, and other services participate in early design phases alongside the R&D, development, engineering, and marketing departments.

There are eleven principles supporting IPD.

#1 – Understand Customer Needs

As in any product or process development system that is successful, customer needs must be determined upfront. Most IPD processes, like systems engineering and project management, place emphasis on gathering complete customer requirements early in the development effort. Customer requirements include desired functionality and quality.

#2 – Plan and Manage the Product Development Effort

Planning any product development project should address overall, long-term strategic goals. IPD adds a focus to the specific business and innovation plans as well as longer range technology acquisition and development.

#3 – Use Integrated Teams

It should be apparent that in a rapid development environment that cross-functional teams better serve project efficiency. Manufacturing and maintenance participation during development of product specifications can smooth the transition to production and facilitate quality implementation. Empowered project teams will take ownership of the product goals, resulting in a more successful commercialization.

#4 – Integrated Process Design

As indicated, manufacturing, purchasing, and customer service personnel should be involved with product design. Excluding support disciplines when setting requirements and design specifications can reduce the product’s performance and result in costly delays. Worse yet, problems encountered post-launch are more difficult to resolve if the support staff is unfamiliar with the product. By integrating all disciplines in the design effort, product performance is optimized over its life cycle.

#5 – Manage Cost from the Beginning

An additional advantage of using integrated teams (principle #3) and integrated process design (principle #4) is that a product’s life cycle cost is more accurate. Target new product costs should be set early in the requirements phase and the project should be managed within this constraint. Early phase design changes are less expensive and effective planning can help to manage non-recurring development expenses.

#6 – Involve Stakeholders Early

Products are not commercialized without external project participants. IPD stresses that by involving vendors, suppliers, distributors, and other stakeholders early in the design process can reduce cost and development schedules. Understanding vendor limitations and capabilities enhances the team’s ability to predict cost and time-to-market.

#7 – Develop Robust Designs

One of the reasons an IPD system is successful in product development is that the process drives toward optimized and robust designs. Many tools are available for the teams, such as design of experiments, failure mode and effects analysis, and lessons learned reviews. Risk in product development is minimized by applying knowledge from past experiences and by tapping into the broad backgrounds of the cross-functional team members.

#8 – Integrated CAD/CAM Tools

Today much of product development and design can be done digitally. These tools, like computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacture (CAM), should be utilized fully in cross-functional product development efforts. IPD systems emphasize modeling not only for the product but also for construction, manufacturing, engineering, and maintenance. Computer-aided design tools can streamline development processes.

#9 – Simulate the Product Performance and Manufacturing

Building on the use of computer-aided engineering tools (principle #8), IPD processes utilize simulation for quality control and performance validation. Checking for variations in digital mock-ups can save cost in construction and maintenance. Today, 3D printing models are relatively inexpensive to produce and can help to validate product and operational variables early in the design process as well as to garner customer feedback.

#10 – Create an Efficient Development Approach

One rule of project management teaches us that as the number of team members grows, the number of communication channels can nearly double. Efficient development teams should be limited to the required number of participants to make decisions. Policies, procedures, and paperwork ought to be minimized for the team to focus on the product development goals. Empowered teams (principle #3) can reach higher performance levels when unencumbered by bureaucracy.

#11 – Continuously Improve the Design Process

IPD systems encourage improvement by re-engineering the design process to eliminate activities that do not add value. Benchmarking other NPD processes and industry participants sets objective goals for life cycle development and time-to-market standards. Team members should be trained in innovation and these IPD principles to recognize waste and opportunities for improvement.

IPD Principles

The goal of IPD is to minimize later stage design changes, reduce project risks, and keep costs low. By incorporating these 11 principles into an IPD process, a company can realize the benefits of full life cycle design alongside the efficiency of multi-disciplinary teams.

To learn more about innovation processes, please check out self-study and other NPDP Workshops. 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!

 

Reading Recommendation

One of my favorite new books on innovation is The Power of Little Ideas by David C. Robertson and Kent Lineback. Another good book focusing on customer perspectives is Strategy from the Outside In by George Day and Christine Moorman. We also discuss application of strategy via disruptive innovation in NPDP Certification Prep: A 24-Hour Study Guide, and you can find additional references at https://globalnpsolutions.com/services/npd-resources/.

 

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

© Simple-PDH.com

A division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

 

 

4 Types of Innovations

Most of us imagine innovation occurring by a lone genius, in his garage, creating the next great technological must-have invention. Yes, Hewlett and Packard, Jobs and Wozniak, and Zuckerberg and his classmates did indeed create billion-dollar businesses from primitive starts in garages and dorm rooms. However, most successful innovation follows business steps and processes rather than rags-to-riches stories. Most successful innovations require understanding markets, technologies, and customers.

While the fantasy of garage-created innovation inspires us, the real work of new product development (NPD) must identify acceptable opportunities that will result in customer satisfaction and grow the business. Innovation, then falls into four typical categories:

  • New offerings,
  • New markets,
  • New customers, or
  • New business models.

New Offerings

New product offerings are often a boon to product sales. These types of innovations create brand new products or product categories that involve new technologies or new customer experiences. Companies can build on these platforms for a long period of time to create derivative products and enhancements. A first-mover advantage further benefits the life cycle economics of a new offering.

Volvo recently introduced its 2019 entry into the compact SUV market (XC40). This vehicle is built on a new platform that Volvo will extend to a hybrid SUV, sedan, and even a convertible car. The new offering involves new technologies but is appealing to a growing customer base that may be currently dissatisfied with competitive products.

New Markets

Designing and developing a product for a new market can be hugely successful for companies. These innovations address currently underserved customers or introduce new technologies to solve previously intractable customer problems. Again, first-mover and fast-follower strategies build sales advantages for new market innovations. We can look to the health care industry for an example.

As the population ages, the demographic is creating (by default) new markets ripe for innovation. The elderly often have better health outcomes when cared for in their own homes. Yet, recovery from injuries or surgery may take longer with an elderly patient. Moreover, these people frequently experience loss of confidence in their ability to complete simple personal care and housekeeping takes, for fear of a repeat injury.

Home health care nurses and lay people are addressing this new market with a variety of services. In some instances, the new market is simple housekeeping while in others, the degree of care including administering medicines and assisting with bathing or dressing.

Companies can take advantage of new markets for innovations that are simple or complex, involve new technologies, or take advantage of existing capabilities.

New Customers

Another way in which businesses grow and develop successful innovations is by identifying new customers. Often a product or service is well-known in one market arena but unknown by customers who may have similar problems in another arena. Adding customers through innovation can both increase sales and decrease overall operating costs. Consumer packaged goods and the food and beverage industries use many different marketing tactics to build expanding customer bases.

For example, I used to drink only frozen orange juice. Honestly, this was a step up in my adult life from the powdered juice drink my mom served with breakfast while I was growing up. Years ago, the supermarket gave me a manufacturer’s coupon for non-concentrate orange juice. Since it was free, I tried it. And I much preferred fresh orange juice over frozen concentrate. A new customer (me) was created and I am a customer with significant repeat purchase behavior.

While it might feel like adding new customers is only a marketing ploy, new customers really do require innovation from a product development standpoint. Products need to be developed with enough variety and price points to appeal to larger, more diverse groups of customers. Likewise, packing may need to be altered to fit the needs of different customers – as an illustrative example, take a look at how many different brands, flavors, and mixtures of orange juice there are at the supermarket!

New Business Models

Finally, innovation also involves new business models (read more about business models here). Business models describe how a product or service reaches a customer as well as key processes, capabilities, and financial formulas for a company. Of course, new technologies often play an important role today in delivering products and services to customers to solve their problems.

An important example of a new business model is the subscription approach. Service providers offer a new smartphone every year if the customer subscribes to the cell service for an extended contract. Newspapers and magazines offer digital content via tiered subscription levels. Even arts and crafts manufacturers offer monthly kit club subscriptions to makers and creators.

Business models also can offer innovations in the profit formula for a firm by innovating around the supply chain, as Amazon was done, or by sharing manufacturing operations across platforms or competitors. Joint ventures offer an incentive for innovations to cross traditional boundaries yet yield advantages to both participants and end-users.

4 Types of Innovations

It is restrictive to view innovation as the proverbial light bulb moment that occurs to a lone genius. Occasionally, great ideas are born this way, but more often successful innovations are produced through collaboration and focused understanding of customers, markets, and technical capabilities.

Instead of hoping for lightning to strike, companies can cultivate NPD teams to recognize and groom innovations involving new product offerings, new markets, new customers, and new business models. These approaches need more user research and integration with manufacturing, sales, marketing, and supply chain. HR, IT, and training functions also must support new approaches to innovation, focusing on customer needs assessments, and growth of core competencies.

Innovation is fun and exciting, and tremendously rewarding when delivering a new product, service, or business model to customer and market needs.

To learn more about innovation and strategy, please check out self-study and other NPDP Workshops. 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!

 

Reading Recommendation

One of my favorite new books on innovation is The Power of Little Ideas by David C. Robertson and Kent Lineback. Another good book focusing on customer perspectives is Strategy from the Outside In by George Day and Christine Moorman. We also discuss application of strategy via disruptive innovation in NPDP Certification Prep: A 24-Hour Study Guide, and you can find additional references at https://globalnpsolutions.com/services/npd-resources/.

 

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

© Simple-PDH.com

A division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Three Factors to Master in New Product Development

New product development (NPD) is inherently risky but is also a necessary function of any firm that sustains long-term business success. CEOs are demanding more innovation and Wall Street echoes the cry. NPD teams are adopting systems and approaches to create repetitive processes and gain customer insights. Yet, commercialization of new products remains somewhat lackluster.

In this post, we discuss three factors in new product development that are often missing in the quest for innovation success. Commercialization of a new idea, concept, or technology cannot be successful without addressing these three arenas. And to be effective at repeated innovation success, companies must thoughtfully consider each factor before deciding to commercialize a new product.

Industry

The first important factor for sustainable innovation is the industry. This includes addressing questions of where the company is positioned in the industry – a core product, a distributor, or a reseller. What sort of R&D capabilities does the firm have? Are new technologies developed in-house, outsourced, or licensed-in?

These questions focus on how a firm participates under current market conditions. If a company is positioned in a slow-moving industry, it needs to evaluate the impacts of new technologies on its existing business models. New entrants to the market can disrupt supply and distribution chains as well as allow consumers to find new solutions outside of existing product categories.

For example, a few years ago, ExxonMobil jumped on a new technology, offering “SpeedPass”. The small device hung from your key chain and by waving it at the gas pump, your ExxonMobil credit card was charged for the fill-up. The idea was to ease the transaction and give some time back to customers. The SpeedPass innovation certainly grasped the concepts of new technology but was far outside the typical markets and industry specializations of the oil giant. ExxonMobil’s core competency is in finding oil, extracting, and refining it. The SpeedPass was abandoned in early 2018.

The Innovation

As indicated by the demise of the SpeedPass, the innovation itself plays a huge role in successful commercialization. Companies need to consider the product life cycle. Balancing the investment in manufacturing with a product expected to have a long-life cycle with many derivatives is a good bet. A firm should evaluate tolling or other manufacturing arrangements if the product is expected to fill a niche among a small group of consumers for a shorter time.

In addition, some radical innovations and breakthrough technologies require extensive spending to educate a new market. Some years ago, one of my clients had designed a terrific new home insulation product to increase the R-value in a home. The product did not see sales take off until the firm invested in educating home remodeling contractors. Radical innovations may be obvious to the NPD team, but need an explanation for general market use.

Risks

Innovation in inherently risky but failing to move forward is a guarantee to disappear. Commercialization of a new product requires balancing risks with market opportunities.

Of course, there is always a financial risk of product failure. That’s why understanding the industry and the innovation itself are important upfront in any NPD project. Other risks include technical and quality outcomes. The product must function technically as advertised and be intuitive for customers to use. If not, repeat purchase will never materialize. A product also must be reliable and meet a customer’s expectations. Quality is always defined as customer satisfaction.

Three Factors of NPD

Customers, especially loyal consumers who make repeat purchases and spread good word-of-mouth about your products are at the heart of successful commercialization of any new product. A company can minimize the odds of a failed product launch by paying attention to three key factors in NPD.

First, understanding your industry and the pace of change drives successful innovation. Competitors may jump on a technological band wagon but if that technology is far removed from your core competencies, is it a good investment? Consider the supply and distribution chains, geographical dispersion, and manufacturing costs as part of any industry assessment.

Next, a company must be intimately familiar with the innovation itself for successful commercialization. Incremental innovations and product derivatives are easily marketed to existing customers. Growing market share or increasing market penetration may require educating new users, especially if the technology or application is new-to-the-world.

Finally, no commercialization of a new product is successful without considering the potential risks. What if the product fails? What if consumers are not satisfied with technical features or product reliability? A firm must decide whether to re-invest in the product or to pull the plug. And these decisions build off the upfront, strategic industry and innovation assessments.

To learn more about new product development management, check out self-study and other NPDP Workshops. 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!

 

Reading Recommendation

One of my favorite new books on innovation is The Power of Little Ideas by David C. Robertson and Kent Lineback. Of course, anyone interested supporting a repetitive NPD process should read Bob Cooper’s Winning at New Products and New Product Forecasting by Ken Kahn. Other good books that should be on the shelf of any innovator are The Innovator’s Solution and Crossing the Chasm (affiliate links). I also dedicate an entire chapter to NPD processes in NPDP Certification Prep: A 24-Hour Study Guide, and you can find additional references at https://globalnpsolutions.com/services/npd-resources/.

 

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

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  1. A division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Three Keys to Organizational Success

Today’s companies are faced with rapidly changing markets, technologies, and pe9ople.  Employees are spread across as many as four generations with different approaches to work and family, and with different frameworks for managing projects to grow the business.  Organizations can be successful with innovation projects by focusing on three key elements:  strategic orientation, business priorities, and cultural values.

Strategic Orientation

Companies do not exist just to be around.  Instead, firms are in business to serve a specific purpose.  A part of that purpose is to make a profit and to satisfy stockholders, but a much larger definition of purpose is why the company exists.

Many companies state their purpose within their strategy and mission statements.  Google doesn’t want to do evil and Starbucks want to nourish the human spirit.  Understanding the business purpose frames the company’s innovation strategy.

A strategic orientation directs and defines the company’s purpose as well as it’s tolerance for risk.  A firm that is tolerant of risk and jumps onto each new technology (a prospector) can get new products to market quickly.  A company that improves the quality of that product and improves the manufacturing efficiency (an analyzer) will also gain market share.  Analyzers are typically less risk tolerant than prospectors yet value the benefits of continuous innovation.

Firms with prospector and analyzer strategies have very different approaches to implementing technology and different perspectives of risk.  Yet, the strategic approach to innovation and project management is built into the purpose of the company and how it tackles any new market opportunities.

Business Priorities

Once an organization has a clear strategy in place, it can prioritize business goals.  With a risk accepting culture and a strategic purpose to be first-to-market, a firm can rank new product development projects and ideas to lead with new technologies.  On the other hand, a firm that is less risk tolerant with an existing high market share may instead focus on incremental innovation.  New technology may be incorporated at the fringes with minimal impact to the core business.  A hobby and craft store may add a smartphone application with a weekly coupon but maintain face-to-face classroom teaching as a way to draw in new customers and increase sales volume.

Cultural Values

Lat, but certainly not least, a successful project or innovation organization must be consistent in cultural values.  The degree of risk tolerance and business priorities send strong messages to employees, vendors, and other stakeholders.  For example, an organization that focuses on growing existing markets with incremental developments will prioritize manufacturing efficiency and cost-control over new technology.  In contrast, a firm with a goal of radical inventions to serve niche consumers will employ whatever means it takes to create a new product prototype.

The messages conveyed by the strategy and business priorities set the company culture.  In the former case, employees are expected to conform to rules, practices, and procedures.  Deviations lead to decreased productivity or inefficiencies.  In the latter case, employees are expected to act first and apologize later.

Of course, a free-wheeling culture cannot sustain long-term profitability and a risk-averse culture will design such boring products that it will send itself to an early death.  A successful innovation organization lays out a framework for expected behaviors within the strategic orientation and business priorities of the firm.  A hotel front desk agent can waive room service charges for a guest with a fussy infant rather than have them dine in the public space, disrupting other patrons.  But, the same employee understands that she cannot waive the extra room fee for connecting suites for the family’s other children.

Successful Innovation Organizations

Culture is powerful in a successful customer-centric innovation organization.  But, culture is built upon a clear strategic purpose and business priorities.  The strategy explains – beyond profit – why a business exists.  Whoa re the customers?  What is the expected outcome?  How will the world be a better place because this company exists?

Business priorities and projects are then selected based upon this ove4rall strategic vision.  Companies that are successful with innovation projects build on the purpose by growing core competencies and market share in familiar arenas.  They adopt new technologies to support the mission.  New products are commercialized that align with these strategic opportunities.

To learn more about new product development management, check out self-study and other NPDP Workshops.  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!

 

Reading Recommendation

One of my favorite new books on innovation strategy is The Power of Little Ideas by David C. Robertson and Kent Lineback.  Of course, anyone interested supporting a repetitive NPD process should read Bob Cooper’s Winning at New Products and New Product Forecasting by Ken Kahn.  Stories of entrepreneurial success, like Airbnb, are artfully included in The Creator’s Code and Barking Up the Wrong Tree (affiliate links).  I also dedicate an entire chapter to NPD processes in NPDP Certification Prep:  A 24-Hour Study Guide, and you can find additional references at https://globalnpsolutions.com/services/npd-resources/.

 

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

© Simple-PDH.com

A division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Scrum in New Product Development

One of the hottest topics in project management and product development today is Agile.  Agile is a set of values that generate several different project management frameworks to increase productivity, customer satisfaction, and team morale.  While agile methodologies are widespread in software and IT, they are only recently being adapted to the development of physical products.

The Agile Manifesto

The core values of the agile philosophy are reflected in The Agile Manifesto.  This proclamation was produced by a group of software developers in 2001 in an attempt to improve speed-to-market and accuracy of product delivery.

The Agile Manifesto compares a preferred way of doing things in a project to the traditional way.  So, while conventional project management tools, techniques, and procedures are not rejected outright, the agile philosophy recognizes a better and more efficient way to accomplish project tasks.  These are shown on the left-hand side of the comparison statements, while conventional policies are shown the right-hand side.

  • Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
  • Working products over comprehensive documentation
  • Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
  • Responding to change instead of following a plan

Scrum

While there are literally dozens of implementations of the agile philosophy, the most commonly adopted framework for physical product development is Scrum.  Scrum is an adaptative, flexible approach to projects that allows for iterative development and improves communication across a team and with the customer.  Elements of Scrum fall into three categories:  artifacts, tools, and roles.

Artifacts

A key artifact or process in Scrum is the idea of time-boxing.  This produces a rhythm and cadence in the work and, for product development, helps to minimize risk.  Several events are time-boxed or limited.  The first is the sprint.

A sprint typically lasts two to four weeks and is a period of intense work for the product development team.  Only a few, priority tasks are completed in each sprint so that the team maintains focus.  For example, a sprint may be designed to gain customer insights through market research by conducting customer focus groups or testing a particular concept in a real environment.  Sprint tasks re prioritized to bring the highest value to the project as early as possible.  Thus, by keying in on a few, critical items early in the project, a new product can be designed with appropriate features that customers want and need.

A disadvantage of the sprint in physical product design is in the definition of “done”.  Whereas a software project can deliver completed lines of code at the end of a sprint, physical product development sprints may deliver test results or qualitative market research.  It may be useful to view the sprint as a learning period.

Other artifacts in Scrum include the daily stand-up meeting and retrospectives.  I’d like to refer you to other posts and papers for more information on these artifacts.

Tools

As indicated, the new product development (NPD) team works on gaining customer feedback or delivering a working feature during each sprint.  A crucial decision-making tool for Scrum is the product backlog.  This is loosely like a list of project requirements in a traditional phased and gated product development process.

The product backlog is developed at the beginning of a project and is constantly reviewed and updated (“groomed”) during the project life cycle.  Product features and attributes, along with the most critical customer experiments are listed in rank order.  Items from the product backlog are worked during any given sprint.  The NPD team commits to only work on a product backlog item during a sprint which can be completed in the timeframe (e.g. 2 to 4 weeks).  In this way, the highest business value items are worked first.

In physical product development, it is of high value to determine the business case for a new product as well as to test a minimally viable product (MVP).  Market studies and technical experiments are often conducted int eh early sprints to determine customer need and product feasibility.  Such knowledge-building activities are designed to eliminate uncertainty in the product development effort.

Scrum Roles

Three important roles in a Scrum project are the team, the Scrum Master, and the product owner.  A cross-functional, co-located team does the work of the project during the time-boxed sprints.  Close collaboration among team members is often cited as a reason for improved productivity in an agile project versus traditional staged and gated processes.

The Scrum Master is a bit like a project leader yet works in a service role more than a directional one.  The team largely decides how to accomplish tasks during any given sprint while the Scrum Master interfaces with the customer, and removes roadblocks and obstacles facing the team in their daily work.

The product owner is a unique role in Scrum and a role that is frequently overlooked in practice of traditional NPD and project management processes.  Product owners create the prioritized product backlog, making the decisions of which features are most important – and valuable – to the business and to the customer.  It is the product owner who approves features and applications at the end of each sprint.  NPD projects benefit from creating personas for the product owner to assume in this role.

Agile for NPD

While initially designed for software development, agile methodologies are gaining traction in NPD for physical, tangible product development.  Often, the agile processes, like those in Scrum, are overlaid on a traditional NPD process.  Learning cycles are especially important in the market and technology development of a new product.

Please contact me if you’d like a free pdf copy of the Scrum Body of Knowledge (SBOK).  To learn more about applying agile to new product development management, check out self-study and other NPDP Workshops.  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!

 

Reading Recommendation

Stories of entrepreneurial success, like Airbnb, using agile techniques for new business are artfully included in The Creator’s Code and Barking Up the Wrong Tree (affiliate links).  I also dedicate an entire chapter to traditional NPD processes in NPDP Certification Prep:  A 24-Hour Study Guide, and you can find additional references at https://globalnpsolutions.com/services/npd-resources/.   Some more great references on agile and Scrum are:

 

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A division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

The Pros and Cons of Traditional NPD Systems

If you enjoy our blog, be sure to check out the reading recommendations at the end for more information.

New product development (NPD) is most successful when a systematic process is utilized to create repetitive product or service commercialization.  “Success” means hitting a sales volume target or profitability goal.  In benchmarking studies, “success” also means that a firm is among the top performer for innovation in its industry.

The benefit of a systematic NPD process is that everyone throughout the firm, and including customers and suppliers, understands the status of a project in progress, the steps required for technical and market development, and the necessary market approvals.  NPD processes do not have to be complicated and certainly should not be onerous, but the must ensure that each project is reviewed consistently and fairly.  Moreover, NPD processes must be applied to every innovation idea, concept, and prototype within the firm.  The most common NPD process is the Stage-Gate™ model, designed by Robert Cooper and documented in his famous book, Winning at New Products.

Benefits of a Stage-Gate Model

In a traditional stage-gate model for new product development, work on the product is done in “stages” and decisions are made at “gates”.  About 80% of US companies use a stage-gate model for innovation today.  Various incarnations of phased and gated models are utilized for traditional engineering and construction projects as well.

A key benefit of a phased process model, like a stage-gate system, is that investment risk is minimized.  Relatively few dollars are committed in the early stages to study market opportunities and ideas.  If the options prove out, then more money is invested to build prototypes and conduct customer tests.  Then, if these experiments are also positive, further investment occurs to build or enhance manufacturing facilities and to formally commercialize the product.  At any point in the process, a project can be killed if the tests do not return expected outcomes.  In this way, the investment in any given idea is minimized and risk-adjusted.

Steps in a Traditional NPD System

A traditional NPD process, like a stage-gate system, is considered a “waterfall” approach to project management.  As water flows downhill, it cannot flow uphill to return from whence it came.  Likewise, once a step in the stage-gate framework is completed and funding is consumed, it is not easy to go back and repeat a prior step.  However, the purpose of the gate decisions is to validate prior work on the project and to approve future plans.  Assuming that all work is accurate, there should be no need to repeat earlier steps.  Waterfall processes require that upfront planning and requirements are correct at the beginning of each phase.  Traditional phases in an NPD process are as follows.

  • Stage 1 – Opportunity identification
  • Stage 2 – Concept generation
  • Stage 3 – Concept testing
  • Stage 4 – Technical development
  • Stage 5 – Product launch and commercialization

In the “fuzzy front end,” investment is not high as there are typically no physical assets involved.  The work done in these early phases (Stages 1 through 3) involves gathering market and customer insights, testing proofs and prototypes, and narrowing design characteristics of the new product.

Cautions in Deploying Stage-Gate Models

As with any waterfall process, the biggest disadvantage of stage-gate systems is the upfront planning.  In theory, a traditional NPD process is designed to test customer feedback and gather end-user insights during each phase of work.  Market attractiveness and customer need are major criteria reviewed at gates, and a project must deliver positive results for a project to pass a gate and move to the next stage.  Customer interactions are built into the work and the approvals of each phase of NPD work.

In practice, however, many firms are sloppy in customer testing.  After all, a lot of smart people work in the R&D department and have the greatest knowledge of technical advances in their field.  Further, just asking a customer what s/he wants in a next generation product does not yield insights into disruptive innovations.  And, finally, we often work on NPD projects that flow through the system because a high-level manager thinks the idea is great, even though there is not one iota of supporting data.

A traditional stage-gate system works for NPD.  But, senior management must make tough and honest decisions at the gates.  Projects that won’t deliver expected commercial value or solve a customer’s needs must be killed.  Oddball product ideas that show promise must be nurtured, even if they appear to be outside the standard operating mantra of the firm.

Airbnb is an example of a new platform that pressed forward even when faced with multiple innovation and sales challenges.  Customer insights were positive in concept tests and the market need was genuine.  Tweaking how properties were photographed allowed Airbnb to move out of the technical development stage and into widespread, successful commercialization.

Traditional Stage-Gate Models in NPD

Traditional waterfall processes are successful in brining new ideas to market.  A stage-gate system minimizes investment risk because each stage of work is carefully matched to escalating goals and objectives.  When customer insights and feedback are held as sacred gate pass criteria, a traditional stage-gate system yields repetitive market successes.

To learn more about new product development management, check out self-study and other NPDP Workshops.  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!

 

Reading Recommendations

One of my favorite new books on innovation strategy is The Power of Little Ideas by David C. Robertson and Kent Lineback.  Of course, anyone interested supporting a repetitive NPD process should read Bob Cooper’s Winning at New Products and New Product Forecasting by Ken Kahn.  Stories of entrepreneurial success, like Airbnb, are artfully included in The Creator’s Code and Barking Up the Wrong Tree (affiliate links).  I also dedicate an entire chapter to NPD processes in NPDP Certification Prep:  A 24-Hour Study Guide, and you can find additional references at https://globalnpsolutions.com/services/npd-resources/.

 

Stage-Gate™ is a trademark of Stage-Gate International

 

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

© Simple-PDH.com

A division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Disruptive Innovation: Customer vs. Market Orientation

Ever since Clayton Christensen first published “The Innovator’s Dilemma” over 20 years ago, companies have struggled to identify and develop products that are “disruptive”.  Likewise, academics have argued about the definition of “disruption” along with the constraints and application of the theory.  Because of the sheer volume of papers and the animation of those debating the topic, we can assuredly know that disruptive innovation is important!

In short, Christensen noted that large, incumbent firms tend to develop new products that serve existing customers with higher and higher levels of performance.  These are called sustaining innovations.  At the opposite end of the spectrum, entrepreneurial firms with no profit margin or expectations tend to design new products that meet the needs of niche customers.  As the product performance characteristics of these new designs improve, mainstream market adoption occurs which “disrupts” the incumbent’s position.

Certainly, not all innovations or new products should be disruptive, yet if a company ignores new technologies and business models, it stands to lose to the up and coming competitors.  One element of disruptive innovation that is often overlooked is the strategic orientation of the firm which informs the innovation culture.  Understanding this linkage – and any deficiencies – can help a company better balance a new product portfolio between sustaining and disruptive innovations.

Two Strategies

A company can follow one of two broad strategic approaches, the choice of which will lead to a cultural tendency toward sustaining or disruptive innovations.

Customer-Led Strategic Orientation

First, many organizations maintain intimate contact with their best customers.  These consumers and end-users regularly participate in lead user forums and focus groups.  The firm relies on these customers to test new product prototypes and to provide feedback on new product concepts.  Such customers may be more innovative than the average consumer and can offer insights into product usage, features, and characteristics.

Companies that utilize a customer-led strategy often are focused on improving existing product performance and gaining market share.  As a result, these firms resort to sustaining innovations more than disruptive technology introductions.  The company’s culture is driven by quality improvements, cost reduction, and customer satisfaction.

Market-Led Orientation

On the other hand, many firms follow a market orientation in their strategic approach.  Companies with this focus will follow trends and readily adopt new technologies and platforms.  Such firms will seek to understand and empathize with customers to identify unmet needs.  They will visit and observe customers in the consumer’s own environment to identify challenges and pain points with product usage.

Companies that follow a market-led orientation support an internal culture of curiosity and creativity.  Failure is accepted – on an appropriate scale – and is valued as a learning tool.  Being first to market with a new technology for a new market is highly valued.  Performance is measured by market penetration, sales volume growth, and new customer acquisition.  Such firms will create many new products and a few of these will become disruptive innovations with a mainstream customer base.

Disruptive Innovation and Strategic Orientation

Strategic orientation, whether a company is customer-led or follows market trends, influences the degree of innovation sought and generated in new products.  Companies that seek deep understanding of existing customers tend to support sustaining innovations while firms that seek to understand new market insights tend to yield more disruptive innovations.  The firm’s strategic orientation creates internal cultures and practices that confirm customer satisfaction or design processes for learning by experimentation.

Neither culture or strategic orientation is “right” and, of course, neither is “wrong”.  Instead, what senior management must ask is if the balance between customer and market orientations will allow the firm to meet its strategic objectives.  Some companies will lean too heavily in supporting performance improvements for existing customers while others will sacrifice product support to chase the next shiny object.

To better understand your firm’s new product strategic balance, you can do a simple exercise.  Take a sheet of paper and draw a dividing line down the vertical middle.  Label the left half “Customer Orientation” and the right half “Market Orientation”.  Now, simply list your current new product development (NPD) products in one of the two columns.  Don’t elaborate too much and don’t spend too long on this exercise – no more than five minutes.  Your “gut feel” will suffice for an early strategic assessment.

When you are finished, you will see if the projects listed are evenly distributed or if there is a distinctive imbalance.  For example, a conservative, risk-averse firm may find no projects that are market-led disruptive technologies.  This signals a long-term threat if competitors introduce new technologies or business models that change how customers interact with the product.  The simple strategic analysis leads the company to take steps to create fundamental research opportunities within their accepted cultural norms (e.g. a low-risk partnership with a university to conduct R&D).

It is important in a fast-changing, globally competitive environment to understand how strategic orientation and the resulting cultural practices impact your innovation characteristics.  Is your firm customer-led or market-oriented?  Is your NPD portfolio balanced between sustaining and disruptive innovations?  Will the innovation portfolio deliver both short-term and long-term strategic objectives?

To learn more about disruptive innovation, check out our on-line class and you will earn one hour of professional development credit.  We also discuss how to implement a disruptive innovation strategy in our self-study and other NPDP Workshops.  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!

 

Reading Recommendation

One of my favorite new books on the debate between sustaining and disruptive innovation is The Power of Little Ideas.  Of course, anyone interested is disruptive innovation should read Clayton Christensen’s The Innovator’s Dilemma and Geoffrey Moore’s Crossing the Chasm (affiliate links).  I also have a section on disruptive innovation in NPDP Certification Prep:  A 24-Hour Study Guide and additional references at https://globalnpsolutions.com/services/npd-resources/.

 

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

© Simple-PDH.com

A division of Global NP Solutions, LLC