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portfolio management

Project Management Skills

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

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

Lessons From Failed Projects

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

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

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

Living Life Backwards

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

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

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

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

Certification

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

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

Summary

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

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

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Throw it Away

When I was young, freshly out of college, I love to collect t-shirts of places I visited.  I didn’t own many clothes and it was a lot of fun to choose a cute, new shirt.  When I wore my t-shirts, I hoped everyone would notice that I had visited Yellowstone or Paris.

After a few years, my closet was stuffed.  Now, I wear many of those once-special t-shirts to the gym, where they end up sweaty and stained.  The memories of the vacation are still valued, but the t-shirt is dated and worn-out.  So, I take these old, worn-out shirts on vacation with me now.  And, after I wear them – one last time – I throw them away.  I also throw away socks with holes in the toes, faded pants, and shoes with the soles worn thin.

As a product manager or brand manager are your products like my t-shirts?  Dear customers still flock with glee to select your products?  Or are they second-rate, stained, and ready for the dustbin of history?

Revamp Your Product Portfolio

All product innovation professionals should be using a product portfolio management (PPM) system to manage existing and new products.  PPM allows management to evaluate products based on customer value and profit.  Remember that products go through a predictable life cycle, so you can monitor when sales are in decline.  (Read more about the product life cycle here and in The Innovation ANSWER Book, 2nd edition.)

Many organizations fail to recognize when a product is in decline.  Yes, I know there is a small pinhole in my t-shirt, but maybe no one notices it.  Unfortunately, that pinhole grows until you could stick a pencil through it.  Are your products starting to show their age?

Throw Them Away

You have two choices when products age.  Like my t-shirts, you can throw them away.  Sometimes, this is absolutely the right decision.  Products that demonstrate declining sales volumes (e.g., number of products sold or percent market share) and for which technology has outgrown, must be thrown away.

This is a tough decision for companies.  Many times, we build our personal identification as a successful engineer or marketer linked to the development and sales of a product or product line.  The design holds special memories, and our teammates were like family during the development project.

Yet, the old product must go – just like my whole-y, stained, t-shirts.  Just like there are a dozen more t-shirts in my closet, you have many, many product concepts to replace the old one.

Revamp

A second choice for PPM is to revamp the product.  This means the firm will invest R&D resources (time, money, and people) to create a next generation product.  You must fully understand your customers and market before taking this step to revamp the product.  Do they really want an updated product or has something else replaced it with newer, better technology?

So, my Zion National Park t-shirt is old and worn-out.  So are many other T shirts from travels years and years ago.  But my closet is stuffed.  I have revamped my souvenirs of happy vacations and now I choose socks instead of t-shirts.  (I’m not sure what I’ll do when my sock drawer is full!)

Product Decisions

All products – existing or new – require a set of decisions to continue selling, discard, or revamp.  The tools of product portfolio management can help product innovation professionals make these choices.  PPM presents evaluations for customer interest, business value, and technical fit.  Data-driven product decisions help to eliminate emotional attachment to a fond, old idea (or t-shirt).

Join me for PPM in 100 Days starting on 7 February 2022.  We only offer this deep-dive master class once a year.  Contact me at info at globalnpsolutions.com for more information.

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.

Lessons for Creative Leadership

I love to travel.  I enjoy seeing new places and trying different foods.  It is fun for me to learn what is unique about a city or town.  I also enjoy visiting familiar places – in Seattle, I have a favorite coffee shop and in Phoenix, I must go to a special place for tacos!

Travel incorporates the lessons of creative leadership.  As innovation professionals we trial, test, and enjoy both the new and the familiar.  The three common themes between travel and innovation are:  vision, learning, and decision. 

Vision

When you visit a new place, you see it differently than if it is familiar.  You may notice that street names change every few blocks or that the city has a lot of billboards.  When you are familiar with the town, these elements fade into the background. 

As an innovation leader, you must envision your products and services with fresh eyes.  Imagine that you have never considered buying your own product.  Does the packaging strike you as interesting or is it boring?  Does the product name describe what it does?  Is the product unique or are there lots of competitors? 

A drawback of working within one brand or category is that we become too familiar with our products and services.  We need to see features and benefits as if we’ve never seen the product before.  One way to get a fresh vision for your products and services is through a focus group or lead user group.  Real customers provide the feedback that an internal new product development (NPD) team may miss. 

Learning

And with vision comes learning.  When I first visit a new place, I like to get a road map.  I’m old fashioned and like to have a paper street map.  It gives me the whole view of a town or city instead of turn-by-turn directions.  I get a sense of what is to the north or east, as well as how far away different attractions are. 

But as I walk around for a few hours (or days), I find that I don’t need the map anymore.  I have learned where to turn and how long it takes to get somewhere. 

Innovation leaders also focus on learning – not simply to transfer a vision into the boring and familiar.  Yet, learning as a method of transforming customer needs into features and attributes brings satisfaction to consumers and profits to companies. 

Learning, in innovation, is crucial.  They say that whoever is not innovating is dying.  A harsh statement.  What it means is that successful leaders are constantly identifying needs and pain points while working to resolve them.  It is easier and quicker to navigate without a street map – when the route is familiar.  Our job, as innovation leaders, is to make product selection and use as quick and as easy as possible for our customers. 

Decision

Vision and learning are important, yet without action you don’t go anywhere.  I often daydream about where I want to go on vacation.  I research places on the internet and buy travel books to learn about parks and attractions in a new area.  But, until I buy an airline ticket, I have not committed to the travel.  When I book my air travel, I demonstrate a decision to visit one place over another.  Effective decisions are crucial for innovation leadership.  One arena in which I see a lot of failure in NPD is a failure to make a decision.  Many, low-value projects linger on the books.  These projects consume valuable (and scarce) resources.  Worst, ho-hum projects do not invigorate your customers or your team members. 

The best way to make new product decisions is through portfolio management.  Join me in 2021 for a special hands-on, interactive course to streamline your product innovation portfolio – 100 Days to PPM.  You will learn to make the critically important decisions necessary to compete effectively.  Join as an individual leader or bring your whole team!

The Traveling Innovator

Whether you love to travel (like me), or you’d rather be a hermit, innovation professionals must practice the three critical skills:  vision, learning, and decision.  With vision, you view a product or service from your customer’s perspective.  You learn what is easy, or difficult, for consumers so you can improve new product designs.  And, finally, you act by making prudent and efficient decisions with product portfolio management. 

Don’t forget to register here for 100 Days to Effective Product Portfolio Management.  Space is limited. 

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.

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.

Strategic Project Screening

A universal truth that I have learned in life is that there are always more good ideas than time to create them.  Sometimes the window of opportunity passes before I can create the product of my idea and other times I simply run out of energy working on other good ideas.  I’m even guilty of spending a few weekend hours watching sports on television instead of pursuing a good idea for my favorite hobby.

While not finishing a task for my hobbies has no ultimate consequence; project, product, and engineering managers must choose how to dedicate and use their resources.  Poor utilization of people, equipment, money and time has real impacts on revenues and cash flow for a company.  Missing the window of opportunity can mean losing market share to the competition.  Declining sales translate to a declining brand and a business cannot afford to take that risk.

Yet, how can an organization evaluate all of the good ideas and choose the winner?  Maybe it’s better to invest a little in each one and see what’s popular in the market?  Or maybe it’s better to watch the competition set up success in the market and follow quickly with a similar product?

All these are important strategic questions.  But instead of guessing at the best product development strategy, an organization can use a strategic checklist to sort out which projects should be funded.  Investment of resources for products and project is based on a set of “must have” criteria and a complementary set of “nice-to-have” features.

“Must Have” Strategic Project Criteria

The “must have” criteria are focused on the customer and end-user for any successful product.  If there is no one interested in buying your product, there is no reason to pursue the project.  It really is that simple!

The four “must have” criteria include:

  • Identified market segment,
  • Compelling reason to buy,
  • Whole product solution, and
  • Important innovation partners.

If any of these elements is missing, then the project should not progress further.

Identified Market Segment

The target customer segment must be carefully and concisely identified.  They must have a clear problem that needs solving for which there is no good alternative solution currently available.  You might be able to market to these customers as a group.  You can have quick hits in sales with this market segment by developing awareness of your product solution.  They know the problem and are begging for a solution.

Compelling Reason to Buy

People generally don’t buy stuff just to be buying stuff.  Consumers make purchases to address their needs.  We buy food for nutrient energy when we’re hungry.  We buy clothes to protect our bodies from the weather and to make fashion statements.  We buy cars to solve our transportation problems.

A successful new product incorporates a compelling reason for customers to purchase it.  This means that the consumer cannot find a solution to his or her problem currently or your product solves the problem better than any other competitor can.  For example, bananas, peanut butter, and a glass of milk solve the energy problem for hungry person, but a Clif Bar® can solve the problem for a hiker better.  Ease of storage and a compact size make me, as a consumer, to choose the Clif Bar to solve my nutrition needs while I’m hiking or biking.

Whole Product Solutions

In another post, we have discussed the four levels of a product including the basic product, the expected product, the augmented product, and the potential product.  Together these make up the “whole product”.  Customers don’t just buy the technical solution (the basic product) as they are looking to solve a whole cadre of problems with the potential product.  A whole product includes the technical solution, features and functionality as well as service, maintenance, and instruction throughout the product’s usable life cycle.  Successful projects must address the whole product in order for customers to become repeat purchasers.

Innovation Partners

In a global, free-market economy, manufacturers do not operate in a vacuum.  No single firm can create and market a product without establishing important partnerships.  Partners include suppliers who can product the desired parts in the right time frame at the right price.  Distributors are also partners who assist in placing the final product into the right sales venues in the target market segments.  And don’t forget your internal partners who design, build, and test new products during the various development phases.  Successful projects must have the means to establish key supplier, vendor, and distributor relationships to launch a new product.

“Nice-to-Have” Criteria

Once a firm has ensured that all “must have” criteria are satisfied for a given project, the key decision-makers can evaluate the “nice-to-have” criteria.  These are weighted according to the maturity of the firm, the technology, and the product category.  Two projects that score equally on “must have” criteria can be differentiated by examining the “nice-to-have” factors.

For new product and engineering projects, the “nice-to-have” criteria may include the following:

  • Unique integration of suppliers and distributors,
  • Effective introduction and long-term pricing strategies,
  • Competitive threats,
  • Product positioning, and
  • Growth in new market segments.

An organization should evaluate the “nice-to-have” criteria in consideration with their own strengths.  Criteria, such as pricing and competition, will also take into account global market conditions, organizational weaknesses, and other on-going projects.

Project Screening

We always have more good ideas than time, money, and people to work on them.  Screening our product and project ideas against a set of strategic criteria can help the firm ensure that it is working on the most valuable ideas at any given time.  The “must have” criteria for a project to advance are customer-focused.  You must clearly identify a target customer who has a compelling reason to buy your product.  The product must solve a previously intractable problem or solve the customer’s problem better than any other competitor.  This includes the “whole product” from the technical features and functionalities to service and disposal at the end of its life.  Customers, as well as suppliers and distributors, serve as key partners in the design, development, and sales cycles.  Relationships with innovation partners must be specially nurtured for a project to be successful over the long-run.

Project screening is also known as portfolio management in the field of new product development.  You can join us in an NPDP Workshop.  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