Simple-PDH

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

product innovation

Hybrid Work – Two Views

As people go back to the office (or continue to work from home), we are faced with challenges for innovation.  A lot of businesses have spent the past 18 months in survival mode – just trying to keep the doors open, regardless of the cost.  Many companies had workforce reductions, cut benefits, and did more with less.  Now, labor is rapidly becoming available but is expensive and some local regulations continue to stifle growth. 

Regardless of the situation that a firm faces from a labor and productivity perspective, leaders cannot ignore necessary innovation.  After such a long period of cost-cutting and tight budgets, the winners will be those organizations that creatively adapt to a hybrid workplace while generating novel products and services for their customers. 

license from creative commons

What is Hybrid Work?

As we wrote about in Bridging Communication Gaps in Virtual Teams (Leveraging Constraints for Innovation, 2018), dispersed teams involve one or more people at different locations.  Hybrid work may include one-to-many or many-to-many arrangements.  This means every individual is working in a remote office, or some people are in the office together while others are working by themselves in remote locations. 

The benefit of hybrid work to product innovation is that new product development (NPD) can address both local and global needs.  Effective product design and development from dispersed teams follows the Virtual Team Model with five elements and 16 practices. 

Work Tasks

Project teams work on two types of tasks:  transactional and relational.  A transactional task can be completed by an individual with little input from others.  Communication to finish the activity is asynchronous.  Transactional tasks include data gathering, analysis and summary.  Calculations and many experiments are transactional in nature. 

Most innovation work activities involving quantitative evaluation are transactional.  For example, analyzing the data from a customer survey uses statistics, can be conducted by a lone team member, and is quantitative in nature.  Remote team members can easily complete transactional project activities. 

On the other hand, strategic questions and new product design parameters are relational work tasks.  These activities require dialogue, shared experiences, and creative approaches to problem-solving.  Relational tasks are best accomplished in an interactive environment. 

For example, determining if the organization will expand the product line to a new market involves a great deal of discussion to ensure the move will align with the organization’s strategy.  Information – including quantitative data – must be discussed, debated, and evaluated in a live (synchronous) environment. 

Relational work is best performed in a face-to-face environment.  However, it is possible – with a trained facilitator – to achieve desired outcomes of relational work with a hybrid work team. 

Creativity in Hybrid Teams

First, teams must have established “emotional” trust.  As discussed by Rosenfeld, et al. emotional trust is necessary from team members to take risks.  Any innovation work is risky because the outcomes are uncertain.  Emotional trust is built through longer working relationships so that each team member knows that others will meet their expectations. 

Next, hybrid teams can be creative in relational and strategic planning for NPD.  Again, a good facilitator can support a hybrid team to generate creative ideas through guided exercises.  A favorite ideation activity is “brainwriting” using an online whiteboard.  (For more information, see this post.)  These creative endeavors are most successful with both individual and collaborative elements. 

Finally, hybrid teams can prepare for innovation work with good planning.  Using limited synchronous meetings for relation-building and creative work is beneficial.  Save the one-way management communications of schedule and budget for newsletters and email.  Both are great for transactional information sharing among dispersed team members.  You want to preserve your limited time together for creative endeavors that require deep relationships. 

Building a Creative Hybrid Team

You will need to assess which work tasks are transactional and which are relational on your project.  Early NPD work needs the creative vibe of synchronous and relational dialogue.  Get your team together in one place to diagnose customer problems, align strategic goals, and generate ideas. 

copyright Global NP Solutions

Later stages of experimentation and design of a new product or service can be accomplished with dispersed and remote teams.  Make sure the expertise of your team members includes individual leadership skills.  Task-oriented leaders use one-way communication for project status reporting and reserve live meetings for creative discussion. 

Learn More

Join my upcoming presentations at AIChE on 3 September 2021, Texas ACMP Annual Conference on 17 September 2021, and ASQ Innovation Day on 15 October 2021.  You can also register for our very affordable (and FUN) creativity workshop on 1 October.  You will learn and practice generating new ideas in a remote, live, facilitated 2-hour workshop.  Contact me at info@globalnpsolutions.com for details.  Register here.

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.

Review: Deep Work by Cal Newport

In this week’s post, I want to talk about one of my favorite books, Deep Work.  Innovation professionals today are finding themselves in a number of new work situations.  We work in open offices, remotely, use email and IM to communicate, and we document our personal and professional lives on social media in great detail.  We are busier than ever, it seems.  But are we really accomplishing deep work – work that requires intense focus and concentration, the type of work that leads to new discoveries and elevates our careers?

Cal Newport, the author of Deep Work:  Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, would argue that most of us are very, very busy but we are busy with shallow work.  He defines shallow work as “non-cognitively demanding, logistical-style tasks, often performed while distracted” (pg. 6).  He contrasts that with deep work, defined as “professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that pushes your cognitive capabilities to their limit” (pg. 3).

Formally trained innovation professionals can probably recognize “being in the zone“ of deep work from our college days.  Intense studying for difficult exams like the ones I had in thermodynamics, reaction kinetics, and mass transfer as a chemical engineer force us into a deep mode of concentration and focus to learn complicated material.  Newport argues that such focused learning is absolutely required to become an elite professional in a highly competitive world. 

In Part 1 of Deep Work, the author presents several other arguments supporting the need for deep work over shallow endeavors.  Knowledge workers, like innovation professionals, must continually learn and adapt as the digital revolution delivers more data, information, and knowledge than we ever imagined.  Newport asserts “to remain valuable in our economy, therefore, you must master the art of quickly learning complicated things” (pg. 13).  A firm’s competition for labor and product management skills is no longer limited to a geographical region.  Instead we are competing against product professionals all around the world.  We have to be the best to succeed, and being the best requires continuous learning. 

The author further argues that people in the business world today often use busyness as a proxy for productivity (pg. 64).  In this readily-identifiable situation, we measure our productivity informally by how quickly we respond to emails and how many meetings we attended today.  Do you ever feel like you’ve spent your entire day doing something every minute but accomplishing nothing? That’s the “busyness” that the author invites us to conquer with deep work.  So, in Part 2, he presents four rules to help us learn to focus and concentrate, and to create meaningful work. 

Rule #1

The first rule is to work deeply.  Studies have shown that when people are working deeply, they are often tamping down desires to do something else that is trivial and doesn’t contribute directly to their goals.  In our world today, most of us are easily distracted by incoming email, text messages, and Facebook.  Newport’s solution is to turn off those distractions so you can work, free of interruptions, for an extended period of time. 

Of course, you cannot completely ignore email from your boss, but a response can probably wait for a couple of hours.  In my business, I strive for a few hours of uninterrupted time each morning, so I only check email once for urgent messages on my phone.  If there is nothing urgent, it can wait until I sit down at my computer to handle a set of smaller work tasks.  Most days I can delay email responses for a few hours so I can concentrate on writing or reviewing relevant research.  Both are deep work activities that add value to my career and utilize my brain capacity when it’s at its best (early morning). 

Rule #2

Embrace boredom is the title of Newport’s second rule to achieving deep work.  It is perhaps easier to describe the opposite of the rule.  You find yourself in a queue at the supermarket or post office.  Instead of letting your mind wander, you pull out your phone to check Facebook or play a quick game.  We fill every minute of our day even if it is with meaningless activities. 

Newport argues that, at best, we gain mild entertainment stimulus from Facebook.  He recommends it instead of expanding our limited energy posting funny cat videos.  Or we respond to posts of a high school acquaintance’s child’s sports scores vs. investing that time in a deep relationship.  Isn’t it more rewarding to have lunch with a close friend than to read 20 Facebook posts that flit by in an instant?

Rule #3

Newport’s third rule to help us accomplish deep work might seem heretical to some:  quit social media.  We have just reviewed Newport’s injunction regarding Facebook.  In Deep Work, the author also takes direct aim at Twitter and all other forms of social media.  Does social media add value to your career goals?  If not, you should quit using the service.  He cites examples of popular and award-winning authors who have no social media presence.  People buy their books because they are seeking the product of long hours of research and the development of new theories, not because they post 10 or 20 pithy remarks on Twitter. 

Newport suggests a couple of strategies to quit social media.  First, he advises taking a social media “Sabbath” – quitting network tools for just one day per week.  This allows your brain to recharge quietly with your family or in nature.  The second strategy the author recommends is to quit all social media cold turkey.  If your presence is missed (measured by a direct request for info or posts), then you should start up the service again.  Unfortunately, the author fails to discuss LinkedIn, which is typically professional in nature (as compared to Facebook, for instance) and is often utilized by hiring managers to evaluate potential job candidates.  My advice is to manage Linked In based on your personal business needs.

Rule #4

Finally, the author’s last rule to achieving high productivity is to “drain the shallows.”  Again he describes the heavy time drain of email on our ability to get deep work done, but he offers several tips to handling the onslaught of email that bombards most of our inboxes. 

First, not every email requires a response.  I am guilty of replying with “Thanks”.  This just creates email clutter and too many emails are simply acknowledging the message was received.  Newport would admonish me for creating this email clutter.  Neither I nor the recipient has benefited or gained value as a knowledge worker from “Thanks“ in this situation.  Instead, the email must be handled – read, deleted, or filed.  Otherwise, we waste a lot of time that could be used solving a deeper innovation problem. 

Next, Newport teaches us how to respond directly and succinctly to email requests.  For example, an unsolicited email requesting a meeting should be met with a specific response.  It would read something like “Please check my calendar to schedule a 15-minute meeting to discuss this matter”.  Personally, calendar applications have increased my productivity because it has put a stop to the back and forth that is often required to schedule a simple meeting.  Our email traffic is substantially reduced if we move scheduling a phone call that takes a total of five minutes instead of five emails – back and forth –  each taking five minutes to handle and taking away from our ability to work in a distraction-free environment. 

Summary

Cal Newport’s book, Deep Work, is a great text to read.  It is one of my favorite and most recommended books.  While we face many structural obstacles in our careers as product innovation professionals, we can learn to focus more deeply on higher value challenges.  It is this “deep work“ which will advance our careers and allow us to stand out against the competition. 

While you may not integrate every single one of Newport suggestions, many of them offer quick hit advantages to help us structure our personal and professional lives to achieve higher value objectives.  Deep Work is recommended for product managers, engineering managers, and project managers who seek to enhance their productivity and gain more satisfaction from their busy work days. 

What steps will you take today to achieve greater focus in your work as a product innovation professional? To help you solidify and act on your goals please join our best practices Master Class on Leadership for Project Managers starting 18 August.   Register here. 

Four Elements of Creativity

Product innovation is a fabulous field in which to work.  Innovation mixes several interesting ingredients – markets, technologies, creativity – to generate products that are valued by customers.  In turn, companies generate profits when they deliver products and services to consumers that delight and inspire them.

Researching markets and technologies is deliberate and structured within product innovation.  Product managers use inquiry tools and statistical analysis to understand categories of customers as well as to pinpoint areas of opportunity.  R&D practitioners analyze experiments and data to design novel technical solutions.  Market research and technology development both follow specific processes with known performance metrics.

Yet, creativity if often shrouded in mystery.  Many people assume they are not creative because they don’t view themselves as “artists”.  Others claim that only wild-eyed scientific geniuses are creative, coming up with ideas like a lightning strike.  In truth, creativity for product innovation is also a structured process with four key elements.

Cross-Functional Teams

There are two elements to creativity from a people perspective – individual and team creativity.  As individuals we all have different experiences and bring that diversity when generating ideas for new products.  Individuals with various work skills and backgrounds “see” the problem differently.  For example, a marketing specialist might define the problem in terms of product awareness while a technology specialist might see the problem as a set of puzzles and a technical code that will unlock the solution. 

Higher levels of creativity occur, however, when we collaborate as a team.  The marketer cannot successfully deliver innovation on his own by simply raising product awareness.  The technologists cannot deliver a new product by simply designing a great piece of hardware.  Instead, when we combine the viewpoints of a cross functional team, we can generate truly radical innovations.  Sharing the different perspectives of a problem – from the customer’s viewpoint as well as from each team members standpoint – enhances creativity and the end solution. 

Boundaries

While it seems counter-intuitive, creativity increases when we place reasonable constraints around the problem.  You might dream about your weekend plans if you had infinite money and no restrictions on your time.  Perhaps a trip to an exotic beach or taking in a Broadway show would be on the agenda?  Yet our dreams of limitless wealth are not actionable. 

Teams are most successful in identifying creative product solutions when there are some boundaries around the problem space.  Having infinite funds or unlimited time opens every possibility and too many choices can be overwhelming.  Instead, your weekend plans must be creative if you can only spend $100 and have two fixed time commitments.  Maybe you take the kids to the zoo just after their Little League game.  It’s a fun and unusual family activity while solving the problem within the given constraints. 

Curiosity

It goes without saying that curiosity must be a key element of creativity.  The status quo cannot serve to grow a business or to generate innovative products over the long-term.  Creative curiosity is a desire – a passion – to figure out how things work.  In new product development, the marketing representative is curious about the problems consumers face and the technical representative is curious about how to build a widget to solve that problem.  Creative curiosity is always looking for ways to improve a system and searching for the “real” problem. 

Are you curious?  How do you approach a new opportunity?  Creative curiosity involves jumping in to quickly learn the who, what, why, and how of a problem. 

Learning

The final element of creativity is learning – learning from failure and learning from each other.  Not every idea works out as we planned.  Sometimes our ideas are too radical for an existing market.  Oftentimes, we cannot find the cost-effective technology to scale for commercial application.  These are “failures” by one definition, yet there are also opportunities for learning.  Each piece of knowledge stacks up to help us solve the next problem, even if one particular approach didn’t work out perfectly. 

Another aspect of creative learning regards quality.  A lot of us are perfectionists because of our passion and love for our customers and career.  Yet, sometimes, good enough is good enough.  When a famous artist changes his style from realism to abstract, he might learn new techniques and learn to be satisfied with the quality of each new painting, even though it isn’t perfect.  A mystery author can add new twists and turns to the story line, depth of characters to her text, but the book must be written in order to be read and appreciated.  Learning to define “done” is an important feature for creativity within the bounds of product innovation. 

Four Elements of Creativity

A lot of people I know claim they are not creative.  This is troubling since I know a lot of people working in new product development.  Everyone can be creative.  I suggest you start with these four key elements of creativity. 

  1. Use a cross-functional team to build empathy across many different perspectives. 
  2. Place loose boundaries around the problem space to enhance creativity. 
  3. Encourage curiosity by offering new options and seeking to deeply understand the problem. 
  4. Practice continuous learning and accept failure by recognizing that good enough is good enough.

Creativity starts with leadership.  Please join our best practices Master Class on Leadership for Project Managers starting 18 August.  Register here. 

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.

Is Your Accent Real?

Recently, my husband and I attended a production of “Pride and Prejudice” at the local community theatre.  First, I didn’t even know Jane Austen’s famous book had ever been made into a play.  Second, because of the short time available for a stage production, I missed some of my favorite passages with Mr. Darcy.  Finally, I live in Texas, so we had to laugh at some of the feigned English accents. 

In fact, my husband’s mother is British.  After about 15 minutes, he whispered to me “Where is this taking place?  Louisiana?”  (Remember we’re both engineers and not experts in literature!  Pride and Prejudice is definitely a “chick flick” anyway.)  The props did have fleur de lis painted on them and the play actors’ accents were far-removed from his mother’s accent.  One guy definitely sounded more Irish than English!

Accents and Innovation

So, you’re probably wondering, “What do fake English accents have to do with innovation?”  Maybe more than you think. 

When we are designing and developing new products, the expectations of our customers are most important to satisfy.  We can design features and functions that add value for them.  Or we can fake it.  A “fake” feature is one we tell customers is great, but the product does not support our claims in quality or cost. 

Another example of a “fake” feature is one that a company develops and promotes but customers don’t want.  Presenting customers with a more expensive product with features they don’t want is as ridiculous as an actor trying to speak proper English over a Southern drawl. 

Identify Important Features

While my mother-in-law’s British accent is familiar and true, I was perfectly happy to accept the “fake” English accents at the play.  My goal – as a customer – was to spend an afternoon away from the normal hustle and bustle, to be entertained, and to enjoy a familiar story in a new format.  You have to know your audience to know what features to offer them.  In this case the fake English accent allowed the production of Pride and Prejudice to go on.  The producer understood customer needs.

New products start by offering a core benefit.  (Read more here about the whole product.)  All competitors must offer the core benefit – a necessary feature or function – for the product to sell in the marketplace.  For example, a ballpoint pen must have ink in it and be able to transfer the ink to paper. 

The actual product includes those features that are new and add extra value or convenience for a customer.  A retractable ballpoint pen keeps the ink inside the holder, so it doesn’t stain your pocket or purse.  Such added features are initially differentiating but quickly become necessary for the core product when competitors also adopt this new functionality

Finally, augmented features are what makes the difference between an ordinary product and an extraordinary one.  Today, a lot of ballpoint pens have a rubber tip for tapping on your phone or tablet.  This is a special feature, useful for people with cold or dirty fingers.  A customer is willing to pay a higher price to access special features. 

What is Your Accent?

Knowing your customer means knowing which features are important.  This information will guide product innovation so that you don’t waste time on unnecessary or unwanted features and functionality.  If your audience accepts the fake English accent in exchange for two hours of entertainment, you are successful, but you must know what your target audience (your customer) wants and will accept in the product. 

Join me for the online WAGILE Product Development class on 15 and 16 July.  In this short course, we focus on valuing the customer and apply WAGILE principles to speed the product development process.  We learn which features customers want so we don’t have to fake it.  Register here – space is limited.

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.

Hydrate Your Creativity

Water.  We all need water to stay alive.  When we become dehydrated, our minds get fuzzy and our bodies collapse.  Water is a fundamental component of life and we must continually take it to survive. 

Creativity is like the water of innovation.  A company cannot survive if it does not explore new ideas and without creativity, products become stale and collapsed.  Creativity is fundamental to new product development (NPD) and we must continually supply it for a firm to stay in business. 

But just as we take water in different forms to stay hydrated, we can use creativity in different ways to maintain and sustain innovation.  First, we must understand the goals.  Then, we must invest in the right tools.  Next, we must make creativity and its companion – failure – acceptable within the culture.  Finally, we can take the small steps to encourage creativity across organizational boundaries. 

Goals for Creativity

Most firms clearly articulate the need for innovation to stay competitive and to meet a variety of strategic objectives.  Business goals and objectives are typically identified in the strategic mission statement and visualized on the product roadmap.  Yet, creativity is not a clearly identified goal in itself.  However, without creativity, innovation and product development cannot thrive. 

Management can inspire creativity by linking business goals with innovation objectives.  This is easier than it sounds.  Often our R&D and NPD teams gather for “brainstorming.”  Brainstorming is one of several techniques that is useful for generating new ideas and concepts, but brainstorming can be largely ineffective if not applied in the right situation(s). 

It is more important to choose the right problem to solve than the right technique.  A lot of firms will automatically turn to brainstorming when other creativity tools can be used to find potential solutions to customer problems.  The objective of the company is to sustain business growth which may require marketing for sales solutions in addition to product development.  Brainstorming tends to focus on generating ideas around a single concept and many of these ideas never have any follow-up. 

Instead, task your product development and engineering staff with a set of business goals.  Striving to meet a specific goal can generate more creative solutions that are realistic and actionable. 

For example, consider a product that has lately experienced lagging sales.  Instead of jumping to a brainstorming session to generate ideas for added features, use the experience and expertise of your product management teams to better understand the sales data from the perspective of business goals. 

  • Are there new competitors in the market?
  • What is your market share?
  • Our customers once-through or repeat buyers?
  • What fashion or geographical trends are impacting the sales?

Invest in Creativity Tools

Brainstorming is a great technique under certain circumstances, but it is not a cure-all for creativity.  Companies must invest in a wide range of efforts to induce creativity.  This includes a financial commitment, year-after-year, to basic R&D.  Skills development in research cannot be advanced with annual budget fluctuations due to the interruptions in project progress.  Creativity grows from a long-term investment in R&D and in building skills for NPD within staff and personnel dedicated to bringing new ideas to fruition. 

Brainwriting is a structured group method to generate new ideas but is more focused on specific problems and goals than are general brainstorming sessions.  This technique eliminates the wild and often chaotic atmosphere of a brainstorming event to bring forth more actionable ideas.  Each individual will quietly inscribe three to five ideas on a sheet of paper.  Because the problem statement has been circulated in advance, the ideas are immediately forthcoming.  The paper is passed to the next person who builds on these ideas.  Or they may record a new idea.  After a few rounds, the paper returns to the originator who reviews and selects the best idea.  The team then notes the “best” concepts from this compilation of ideas.  These “best” ideas are recorded as in a traditional brainstorming session.

Another technique that works well to generate creative product concepts is built on the customer’s problem, or “job-to-be-done”.  The NPD team should actually use the product as it was designed in the same situations that a customer might use it.  Product use (and role-playing if that’s not possible) helps to identify real pain points from the customer’s viewpoint – areas that are ripe for innovative solutions. 

Accept Failure

We’ve all heard Thomas Edison’s famous quote of not having found the right invention but instead having found 10,000 ways not to do it.  Failure is a part of the creative process and companies must learn to accept some failures on the pathway to success.  This is precisely why athletes practice and practice.  When they encounter the real-life conflict in a game, they know what worked and what did not. 

While failure is a part of the creative process, there are limits to acceptable failures.  Companies should not tolerate new product development without corresponding customer research.  Product designs should not be created in a vacuum without consumer input.  Marketing campaigns should be tested with a subset of the target audience.  The NPD process is devised to engender fast and smart failures, leading to knowledge that increases the success rates of new products. 

Creativity Across Organizational Boundaries

Creativity for new products and services is not limited to named R&D staff or those personnel assigned to the product development organization.   Seek creativity across organizational boundaries to increase idea generation, manufacturability, and sales and marketing of products that meet customer needs and wants.   Workers on the factory floor should be empowered to add value by saving costs or increasing productivity.   Sales teams often have the most contact with customers and know their needs best.   Every NPD effort must be staffed by a cross-functional team that can look across organizational boundaries to build better, smarter, faster products and services to solve customer problems.

YOF_083

The traditional “suggestion box” might be accompanied by incentives and rewards, linking exceptional ideas to the corporate business goals.   Every suggestion, however, must be acknowledged with a heartfelt “thank you” and how the suggestion will (or will not) be implemented.   Suggestions that aren’t timely or do not have enough cost impact must be acknowledged, rewarded, and encouraged.   Small steps can eventually cover great distances, especially when taken together.

Supporting Creativity

We have to support our bodies and minds by staying hydrated as water supports all the life-giving mechanisms.   Similarly, creativity supports all the business-sustaining systems for growth and productivity.   We set goals for daily water consumption – my fitness app recommends 64 ounces of water per day.   I have invested in tools to help me achieve that objective – refillable water bottles for my bicycle, for instance, and an insulated thermos for the car.   Sometimes I fail to meet my hydration goal – sometimes by a few ounces and other times by a lot.   But I can accept that failure and try again tomorrow.   Finally, I have enlisted help across my institutions – each evening, my husband brings me a fresh bottle of water while I watch television or read.   Staying hydrated helps me achieve so many other goals.

Likewise, senior executives today recognize more than ever that that innovation is key to long-term success.   Inspiring creativity is not easy, yet most employees feel empowered and more engaged in their work when they seek creative solutions to address real-world problems.   Just as I’ve taken simple steps to increase hydration in my daily life, firms can take some simple steps to enhance creativity in their organizations.

  1. Link innovation to specific business goals.
  2. Invest in effective innovation tools.
  3. Accept failures on the pathway to creativity.
  4. Take small steps to generate big results.

Creativity is part of being a successful new product development professional (NPDP).   Learn more about NPDP certifications here. 

Read about more creativity tools in my recent article in Chemical Engineering Progress (published by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers) here.

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.

Can Nerds Serve the Customer?

I’m a self-admitting nerd.  My educational background is in engineering and I enjoy learning how things fit together.  I love to watch movies, but I never know the names of actors or actresses.  I fail miserably at the literature questions in Trivial Pursuit™. 

Yet, I love math, logic, and reasoning.  In recent years my fondness to “figure out how things work” has become a study of people, leaders, and teams.  Successful innovation teams have a different culture than others. 

A friend and colleague mentioned that her son was studying mechanical engineering.  She encouraged him to take a Design Thinking class so he could learn about human-centered design.  I agree wholeheartedly with her!  Engineers have an isolated educational experience driven by high-level calculus an intense theory of physics.  Of course, accountants, sociologists, and architects also have educational experiences driven by depth of knowledge, rather than breadth.

So, can nerds learn to serve the customer?

The Customer

First, we have to take a step back.  Any free economy functions to produce goods and services that generate profit for the seller.  Buyers pay a price for goods and services that give them utility and functionality at their own perceived value.  The buyer (or customer) seeks a benefit in purchasing a product that is greater than the price they pay.  Moreover, the price that the buyer pays must include a margin of profit for the producer.  If not, the producer will cease to offer those goods or services. 

A seller learns what to sell by studying customers and markets.  Customers are the key element in designing and developing new products.  My friend was very astute to encourage her son to broaden his studies beyond engineering.  New Product Development Professionals (NPDP) blend the unique skills of technology understanding, market perception, and product knowledge to successfully innovate profitable goods and services. 

Engineers, like other innovation leaders, have an intense curiosity about how things work.  Yes, we are nerds because we enjoy tinkering and troubleshooting.  So, trying to solve a customer’s problem by designing a new widget is exactly a perfect fit!

Design Thinking

Again, my friend gave her son a huge gift toward his employability by encouraging him to supplement engineering classes with Design Thinking.  Design Thinking is both a process and a set of tools.  From the process perspective, Design Thinking teaches us to collaborate with fellow nerds, customers, and any function that will help solve the problem.  From the tools point of view, Design Thinking gives us templates and techniques to elicit even the most obscure unarticulated customer needs. 

copyright Global NP Solutions

At the core of Design Thinking is empathy – an understanding of the feelings, thoughts, and attitudes of another person.  In the case of product development, the product development engineers build empathy for the customers by interviewing, shadowing, and observing their interactions with the product.  When we understand the struggle that a customer has to open a package or assemble the parts, we improve the features and functions of that product. 

For example, IKEA includes a small (cheap) hex wrench with its ready-to-assemble furniture (such as a bookshelf).  The packaging is small (a benefit to customers and transportation) but only nerds have a full tool chest available to assemble a bookshelf.  So, for most folks, the cheap hex wrench is a huge time-saver.  Parts are clearly labeled and the visual instruction sheet from IKEA gives simple directions to assemble the parts using the tools (hex wrench) provided.  Both the seller and buyer benefit – higher profit margins and enhanced perception of the product’s value. 

Image from Creative Commons

Engineers and Design Thinking

Yes, nerds can serve the customer!  Engineers are great at trouble-shooting and finding creative solutions to problems.  Augmenting our technical training with customer empathy creates a superhero innovation leader. 

If you don’t know the basic tools and process of design thinking, that’s okay.  Register here for an interactive, online workshop, led by a full-fledged nerd. 

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.

Innovation in the Product Life Cycle

I recently ran across notes I had taken while reading a book that summarized management skills.  I no longer remember the title or author’s name, but the book was an overview of all the subjects covered in an MBA program 20 years ago.  Of course, MBA programs have changed a lot in this time frame, yet a lot of the basic tools we use for decisions have not changed.   

For instance, managers need to understand finance and accounting.  Managers need to know how to create a strategic plan.  And managers need to understand operations, distribution, and supply chain.  Managers also need to understand the product development process, including aspects of technology and marketing.   

The Product Life Cycle

The product life cycle (PLC) is not a new concept, yet it supports the work of a product manager today still.  Just like every living thing has a life cycle – birth, growth, maturity, and death – so do products.  The PLC covers the introduction of a new product to a market, growth of the product in both market share and market penetration, maturity to a commodity-like product, and decline.   

image from creative commons

Introduction

In the introductory stage of the PLC a product is first released for sale.   Sometimes new products are new-to-the-world and sometimes they are only new-to-the-company.  The decision to develop a new product, though, starts long before it is introduced to the market

Product managers are constantly on the lookout for new product ideas.   They gather concept ideas from existing customers.  Innovation managers also continually scan the horizon for new product opportunities.  A new product might consist of a new technology applied to an existing market or a new market altogether.   

I found a new product the other day – most likely an application of existing technology to a new market.  My cats love gravy.  They will drink the gravy out of the bowl and leave the particles of food behind.  They really love a treat, called “Gravy-licious”.   It is a crunchy treat with a “gravy” coating.  At the store the other day , I found a 3-pound bag of regular food made entirely of gravy-coated particles.   I knew it would be a hit – the bowl was empty in no time!  

While gravy-covered treats and gravy-covered food are not radically different from my point of view (or apparently the cats’ view either), these are different products.   Consider the scale of manufacturing for a treat versus that of a large volume food product.  Also consider packaging, distribution, and promotion.   Each element must be adequately addressed to introduce a new product to consumers.   

Growth

During the growth stage, a new product is adopted by a majority of consumers in a market.  Remember that adoption by a passionate few can then drive mainline purchases by your target market.  In fact, product innovation leaders will gain insights to the quality, pricing, and feature sets of new products from the introduction and early growth stages.   

Growth is characterized by extended promotion of the product.   For a new-to-the-world product, profits begin to accumulate.   Manufacturing is streamlined as are supply chain and distribution.   

Maturity

As the product continues to grow in market penetration, competitors enter the market.  The term market penetration means that existing customers are buying more of the product and as many customers that want the product can buy it.  Market saturation occurs when every customer who wants a product can – and does – purchase it.   

This maturation of a market means that the product is becoming commoditized.  There is often little differentiation among competitors and profit margins decline due to pricing pressures.  A lot of companies take the strategy of lowest cost during the maturity stage which, unfortunately, sinks the whole market.   

Decline

Fighting for the lowest cost leads to overall decline of the product – or death in the product life cycle.   Manufacturers do not want to make a product that has no profit margin as there is greater utility for equipment to make another product.  In some cases, it is more cost effective to sell a factory rather than continue to produce goods that generate financial losses.   

Yet, a lot of product managers fail to recognize the signs of decline.   Heroic efforts will not save a dying product.  Instead, innovation leaders must take a long, hard look at customers markets, technologies, brands, competitors, and products to generate a strategic plan.   Do you sunset the product or reinvest to launch a next a next generation new product?  Not an easy decision.   

Innovating in the PLC

One word that repeats itself when describing the product life cycle is competition.   Even with a new-to-the-world product, we do not operate in a vacuum.  Competition is working on new technologies and new promotions in our target markets.  We must be ready – at every stage of the PLC – to address competitive threats.   

Do you know your competition?  Do you have a formal strategy to address new product competition?  Are your profit margins strong against all product competition?

If you answered “NO” to just one of these questions, it’s time for a tune-up in your PLC!  Join the self-paced Competitive Analysis course here.  You will earn 2 PDH and save 20% with discount code “Intro” through 15 April 2021.

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.

Innovation Project Scheduling

Time.  It is the only resource for which there is no true price and the only resource that cannot be recovered.  Once we spend a minute, an hour, or a day, it is gone.  We cannot re-use the time or re-purpose it. 

image from creative commons with free to use and share designation

Yet, time is a resource that is often wasted.  Personally, I can waste time by watching television or chasing rabbit trails on the Internet.  On a recent evening, for instance, I watched a re-run of “I Dream of Jeannie” and then spent several minutes looking at the Wikipedia histories of Larry Hagman and Barbara Eden.  While I might guess a trivia question correctly in the future, I probably did not use my time to my highest productive ability. 

Innovation Project activities

Likewise, we do not always use our project time effectively when we develop new products.  Innovation can present a lot of “rabbit trails” from both the technology and market perspectives.  When a lab test looks interesting, organizations often devote all their resources (including time) to duplicating and validating the result.  Similarly, when a focus group gives positive feedback on a feature, our innovation focus narrows, and we dedicate more time to understanding that particular customer need.  In retrospect, these might be the right (or wrong) decisions.  Only time will tell.

Dedicated innovation project resources are the hallmark of a successful new product development (NPD) strategy.  However, a singular focus can lead us to miss alternate approaches or business models.  Not only do we have to be aware of our natural biases as an organization, we also must be aware of competitor actions in the field. 

One way to counter a narrow innovation focus is to conduct parallel product development activities.  Especially in the early phases of NPD project work, innovation teams can – and should – investigate multiple ideas, concepts, and feature sets.  Some key activities in early phase new product development are as follows. 

  • Ideation
  • Concept Trials
  • Customer Shadowing
  • Needs Assessment
  • Strategy Alignment
  • Competitive analysis
  • Prototype Testing
  • Pilot Testing
  • Quality validation
  • Market Tests
  • Performance Verification

Roadmapping

At the highest level, scheduling of innovation activities occurs through roadmapping.  A roadmap is a visual representation of key product development activities and milestones that guide the product innovation team to an expected outcome.  For example, if we know we need to launch a new product at a specific trade show in December, then we can draw a roadmap of activities that will allow us to meet that deadline. 

Example of a Simple Product Roadmap

Backward Pass Scheduling

In formal project management “language,” the term backward pass scheduling is used to describe building a roadmap (or schedule) from the required end date to our current date.  So, if we must have a new product ready in December, we will have to do prototype testing in September.  To have a realistic prototype in September, we will need to have a feature list by July period to have a list of critical features in July, we need to conduct focus groups on different concepts by May.  And that means we need to hold ideation and design thinking workshops in March.  We plot our key innovation activities on the roadmap which gives us a rough schedule for the project. 

Detailed Scheduling

Once we have generated a roadmap of activities for the new product project, we will undertake detailed scheduling.  Software tools are invaluable for both roadmapping and detailed scheduling.  All project development tasks are input along with the required resources (by name and position) and activity duration.  Capacity management is key to success at this stage.  Some tasks include dependencies with other tasks and resources cannot be used twice in the same period.  A typical output of scheduling software is a Gantt chart, which we overlay on the roadmap. 

Innovation Project Scheduling

In this post, we’ve only touched on a few of the important elements in creating an innovation project schedule.  The figure below summarizes these steps.  (Note that monitoring and controlling a project is a separate topic.)

While getting the details right is important, the most crucial element for successful innovation leaders is getting the process right.  This includes understanding customer needs and required innovation activities.  Join me on 22 and 23 April 2021 for the WAGILE Product Development workshop.  In this interactive online class, you will tackle your biggest innovation scheduling challenges, streamline customer feedback processes, and improve speed-to-market.  If you find you are launching ho-hum products too late in a crowded marketplace, you must learn WAGILE now!  Register here.

Learn how to make your innovation process flexible!

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC   

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.

Who Is Your Competition?

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

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

Elements of Competition

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

copyright Global NP Solutions, LLC
  1. Strategy
  2. Presence
  3. Willingness
  4. Capacity

Strategy

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

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

Presence

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

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

Do you have presence in your industry?

Willingness

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

licensed by Creative Commons

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

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

Capacity

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

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

copyright Global NP Solutions, LLC

Understand your Competition

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

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

Learn More

If you want to learn how to implement effective strategic goals to beat the competition, please join me for the Exclusive Reset Your Strategy Workshop on Monday, 15 March (Part 1) and on Monday, 22 March 2021(Part 2).  Special discounts for the unemployed as you navigate new competition.  Contact me at info@simple-pdh.com 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.

Forecasting for Product Management

I live in Texas, so this past week has been interesting.  Normally our winters have low temperatures around 40°F.  A couple of times each winter, we will experience a “hard freeze” of less than 32°F for more than a couple of hours. Often, the weather forecasters predict lower temperatures and harsher conditions and materialize.

Snow covered palm tree
Image from Flickr (The_Doodler)

This winter, we had a storm of a lifetime.  Instead of over-predicting, the weather forecast gave low temperatures 5 to 10°F higher than observed.  There was snow and ice in the Corpus Christi area, right on the Gulf of Mexico with low temperatures dipping to just 19°F (-7°C).  Thick ice covered every surface, including the wind turbines which were providing about 40% of power to the state.  Iced up, they could turn no more, so the state has been gripped in massive power outages, leading to loss of water supply in many places as well. 

What is Forecasting?

While we often think of the weather when we hear the term “forecast,” we also make business predictions.  A business forecast allows us to plan production, distribution, and resources.  These forecasts are usually based on sales projections into the future, sometimes called a “demand forecast”. 

Time Frames for Forecasting

Business forecasting covers a wide range of time periods.  We use short-term forecasts for immediate job assignments, shipping, and purchasing.  Medium-term forecasts also include plans for inventory, warehousing, and raw material supplies.  Finally, long-term forecasts involve strategic product planning with potential capital investments. 

Role of the Product Manager

A product manager has a broad role, including new product development (NPD) and brand management.  Understanding and predicting customer needs means a product manager must be proficient in making demand forecasts.  Functional departments look to the product manager for guidance in production, logistics, and purchasing.

Market trends often dictate which products will experience growth and which will experience decline.  Additionally, the stage of the product in the overall product life cycle (PLC) also contributes to expected consumer demand.  (Recall that the stages in the product life cycle are introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.  Read more here.)

Other factors that influence the demand for a new product include competition, technology, and regulatory factors.  When the US government banned incandescent light bulbs, demand initially spiked as consumers hoarded a product that was inexpensive and efficient for use.  Suppliers, however, ramped up production of fluorescent bulbs.  The forecast was tricky to manage – fluorescent bulbs are more expensive, tend to have a longer life, but are far more damaging to the environment if broken.  In this case, the product manager’s job is to make an educated guess for light bulbs sales and where to invest product innovation dollars.  New technologies, such as LED bulbs, are an optional replacement product.

Types of Forecasts

There are two main categories of forecasting:  qualitative and quantitative.  Qualitative forecasts use the opinions and intuition of a group of experts.  Often the sales team provides valuable input to predict new product sales because they know how their customers feel about existing and competitive products, features, and needs.  It is qualitative approach because no mathematical models are explicitly applied to the prediction. 

A quantitative forecast, on the other hand, normally relies on historical data to predict future sales.  In product innovation, we may use data from similar products or use adoption rates in similar markets.  Customer surveys yield data ranges for selling price and volume.  We use mathematical models and statistical analysis to predict future product sales.

It’s important to check your assumptions frequently, especially during the product introduction phase.  Assumptions and risks are built into any qualitative or quantitative forecast.  You’ll also want to validate your predictions with an evaluation of their accuracy to improve all future forecasts. 

Forecasting for Product Managers

Because a forecast is a prediction of the future, it will most definitely be wrong.  However, product managers need to master the skills of forecasting to manage product development efforts, strategic initiatives, and customer needs.  If you under-predict production, customers can be left without products they want to purchase.  If you over-predict demand, you might be stuck with a warehouse full of useless products (a situation one client described to me).  Balancing customer needs and profitability efficiently is the definition of a successful product manager.

image from 123rf.com license, author kebox.

Learn more about Forecasting for Product Managers in our upcoming online class on Tuesday, 6 April 2021.  Check out the full course calendar here and catalog of facilitated and online courses here.   Contact me at info@globalnpsolutions.com for more information about Forecasting for Product Managers or any other innovation topic – I love to learn and share! 

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.