product innovation

Forecasting for Product Management

Posted on 02.18.21

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!

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

Customers and Product Development

Posted on 02.11.21

As product development professionals, we often think of our customer. What do customers feel? What do they need? What are their expectations? Our responses, generally, focus on features and functionality of the product.

Of course, we have many types of customers and the best new product development (NPD) processes address customer needs throughout the value chain. Let’s take a look at the various types of customers and their role in NPD.

Types of Customers

One of the fundamental decisions you make in product innovation is who is the customer. We must consider several types of customers.

Internal Customers

First, we have internal customers. These are departments or units that are downstream within a single company. It is folly to ignore logistics or sales during product design and development. No new product makes its way into the hands of a customer without first being manufactured (supply chain logistics), being delivered (distribution), and being purchased (sales).

Supply chain is an internal provider and customer to the NPD effort. Working with the purchasing department early in concept development can reduce costs of raw materials. Perhaps your purchasing department can work a deal that gives a component discount as production ramps up after new product introduction. Your purchasing department should be a partner not an adversary.

You also need your internal customers to provide timely actions to get a new product to market. Legal teams must work with the NPD team throughout design and development for functional patent protection and trademarking of new logos, etc. Many other functional departments serve to assist the development effort as well.

External Customers

External customers are who we typically think of when we hear the term “customer”. These are folks outside the firm that buy the product and consume it (thus, the oft-used, interchangeable term of “consumer”). Our communication with external customers is frequently one-way by telling them about a product’s features.

However, the most successful innovators use two-way communication with external customers. We must know the thoughts and feelings of our customers to design and develop new products. External customers provide infinitely valuable feedback on our ideas and concepts. They test prototypes and lead us to the designs that will best satisfy their needs.

External customer feedback is at the heart of the WAGILE process. WAGILE takes the best of the traditional waterfall development processes and the best of Agile design to create a disciplined yet flexible customer-focused NPD process. Register here for our interactive WAGILE product development course (online 18 and 19 February 2021).

End-Users

Not all customers are end-users. Most of the time, a consumer purchases a product and uses it herself. There are many situations, though, in which other people use the product after it is purchased by someone else.

The easiest example of a non-purchasing end-user is a child. Mom and Dad buy toys, books, games, and snacks for Little Johnny often without his input. Of course, Little Johnny does not have money (and sometimes doesn’t know how to talk yet), so he is incapable of buying a product. However, Little Johnny does play, read, and eat so he “consumes” the product.

In product innovation and in the WAGILE process, we test not only the market response of the decision-maker (see below) but also the end-user. If :ittle Johnny prefers to play with the box instead of the toy inside, should we proceed with development of that particular product? We also might find that parts and components need different assembly for children than in a product built by adults. The end-user is an important customer in NPD.

Decision-Maker

Little Johnny’s mom and dad are the decision-makers in this scenario. Naturally, other products and services have customers that are decision-makers different from the end-user. Medicine has tons of examples.

For example, your insurance provider (private or government) determines which physicians you can afford to visit. Insurance companies often pay for pharmaceutical drugs but not naturopathic therapies. They may tell you which hospital is okay for you to go to for a knee surgery, regardless of the distance from your home.

Decision-makers are likely to look primarily at cost for a new product. Effectiveness and satisfaction by the end-user (unless it’s Little Johnny) may not be the defining characteristic of a purchase. For corporate decision-makers, “average performance” might be more important than delivering a quality experience to the ultimate consumer.

Who is Your Customer?

As you design a new product innovation, you must consider the customer. It is extremely unwise to ignore your internal customers. Use the various departments in your firm as partners to find the best solutions (especially for supply chain and distribution).

One our external customers, likewise, often are ignored. Why wouldn’t you want to test concepts and ideas with the person whom you ultimately want to sell? Customer feedback is essential to successful product innovation.

Finally, don’t confuse the decision-maker with the end-user. Satisfying the needs of both of these customers might mean a trade-off in cost versus quality. Make sure your NPD process involves testing for all external customers, including decision-makers and end-users.

Learn More

I’m excited to share my podcast interview with Kevin Brennan. You can listen to a summary of WAGILE here. Then, register for the interactive online WAGILE Product Development course on 18 and 19 February 2021 (register here). You will have homework because you must understand customer needs to be successful in product innovation! Contact me at info@Simple-PDH.com for more information.

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

What is WAGILE?

Posted on 01.28.21

WAGILE is an emerging approach to product innovation. You might ask, “Why do we need yet another, new approach to managing product development?” The answer is that every system has advantages and that over time, we can recognize process improvements. A secondary answer is more data-based. Studies indicate that revamping and revitalizing your new product development (NPD) process can not only enhance participation but yield improved results, such as creative solutions, time-to-market, and profitability.

Traditional NPD Processes

Organizations implement NPD processes to manage risk. Risk in innovation is more loosely defined than in traditional project management. Innovation professionals encounter risk from two perspectives: understanding the product or project requirements and developing the required technology. These are identified as “requirements uncertainty” and “technical uncertainty” in the figure.

A traditional NPD process, such as the staged-and-gated process, is designed primarily to manage investment risk. Each stage of work involves more resources but as the project advances through the various stages, technical risks are addressed. Each subsequent stage of work encounters less uncertainty. In this way, financial risk is minimized because there is little investment for small-scale experiments during initial stages and as more knowledge is gained, the investments will grow but with reduced uncertainty in the outcomes. Sometimes these processes are called “waterfall” since each step flows to the next; however, there is no easy way to go “backward” in the system.

To counter the bureaucracy that many large companies incorporate alongside traditional NPD processes, the Agile methodology intentionally leaves the overall requirements uncertain. Theoretically, the customer provides feedback after each incremental development step (called a “sprint”) so that the requirements uncertainty is reduced. A drawback of Agile is that real customers are often not included in the process. Further, it is difficult to determine when a project is “done” in terms of meeting market requirements.

What is WAGILE?

WAGILE is a hybrid process that blends the best of the traditional waterfall systems with Agile philosophy (“W” + “Agile”). The rigor of a staged-and-gated project management approach is coupled with required customer feedback in each phase. Incremental and iterative work within a stage allows innovation teams to adequately address design and development needs. Yet repeating a phase of work is done only when necessary. The WAGILE philosophy incorporates key ideas from these innovation approaches.

Move fast
Practice discipline
Understand risks
Engage customers
Provide autonomy

You can read more about the WAGILE Philosophy here.

WAGILE Roles

Roles and responsibilities are defined clearly for Agile processes, such as Scrum, as well as in traditional project management. Many of these roles are similar to those utilized in WAGILE. Some key roles and responsibilities for WAGILE are described below. You can read more about the WAGILE Roles here.

Project Leader: Somewhat like a traditional brand manager, the Project Leader in WAGILE is responsible for the overall product life cycle and drives product innovation.
Customer Representative: In Scrum, the product owner represents the voice of the customer. In WAGILE, the Customer Representative carries out this responsibility and helps to translate or articulate customer needs for the innovation team.
Team Leader: In many ways, the team leader in WAGILE is similar to a traditional project manager with tactical and operational responsibility for the execution of the project. Team leaders are servant leaders yet maintain autonomy for project decisions within the scope of the project.
Cross-Functional Team: Like all new product development teams, successful innovation under a WAGILE approach requires participation from all relevant departments and functions. Team members are generalist-specialists, as in an Agile approach and the core team maintains continuity throughout the project effort.

Some WAGILE Tools

WAGILE tools are based primarily on Design Thinking to incorporate customer feedback at each stage of development. Each individual WAGILE project will use several complementary tools to complete the work of a given phase. Depending on the scale, scope, and breadth of the innovation work, several tools are used at multiple points during development. A fundamental decision point in selecting feedback techniques is to use the data gathering, testing, and experimentation tools that provide the highest density of customer information. Read more about WAGILE Tools here – a list of some of my favorite tools follows.

Customer empathy map
Customer journey map
Affinity diagrams
Product Portfolio Management
Scrum board
Business model canvas
Paper prototypes

Benefits of WAGILE

Again, you might be asking, “Why do I need a new system to manage product development?” Often the NPD process becomes stale and the links to customer feedback become broken. You need WAGILE if you find your innovation teams bogged down in idea generation stages or if recent product launches are met with “ho-hum” market responses. The biggest benefit of WAGILE is that it is a flexible, risk-based process to get new products into competitive markets. We measure success of product innovation in WAGILE via market success: customer satisfaction, market share, and profitability.

What’s Next?

If you’d like to learn more about WAGILE, please join our WAGILE class on 18 and 19 February. We will dig deeper into each of these concepts. Your homework during the course allows you to begin transitioning to a more flexible and adaptable approach to innovation within the governance of a risk-adjusted process. For personalized problem-solving or customized training, contact me at info@globalnpsolutions.com for innovation consulting.

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.

Unless otherwise indicated, images used under Creative Commons.

Defining Innovation Leadership

Posted on 12.17.20

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

The Innovation Framework

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why You Need to Define Innovation Leadership

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

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

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

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

What Are Your Plans for 2021?

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

About Me

I am inspired by writing, teaching, and coaching. I tackle life with an infusion of rigor, zeal, and faith. It brings me joy to help you build innovation leaders. Teresa Jurgens-Kowal is an experienced innovation professional with a passion for lifelong learning with a PhD in Chemical Engineering and an MBA in Computer and Information Decision Making. My credentials include PE (State of Louisiana), NPDP, PMP®, and CPEM, and I am a DiSC® certified facilitator. Contact me for more information on coaching for entrepreneurs and innovators.

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

Wagile Tools

Posted on 09.24.20

For several weeks, we have been posting about the Wagile innovation process.

Wagile is a hybrid new product development (NPD) process that brings together the best of waterfall (“w‑”)project management systems with Agile systems used for software development (“‑agile”). The outcome is an innovation process that has a deep focus on customer needs while managing risk (investment) through a disciplined approach.

Product Innovation Tools

Most innovation processes include checklists of what has to be done and when. In a traditional staged-and-gated process, the business case must be completed in order to pass a certain gate. Market testing must be completed before going to market with a new product, etc. (Read more about product innovation tools here.)

Likewise, Scrum specifies a checklist of features (known as the “product backlog”) to complete during a sprint. Sprints are short periods of time in which the project team works on the list of tasks provided by the business. Tasks that are not finished in the prescribed two- to four-week period are added to the “sprint backlog” and rollover to the next sprint – akin to a never ending “To Do” list.

What’s missing in both the traditional waterfall and Agile processes is the “How To.” Of course, every project is unique and different. The fun and beauty of working in innovation is the variety and diversity of tasks, activities, and projects. Yet, each time we encounter a new situation, we can (and should) follow a given process to understand the situation (such as risk analysis) and to design solutions. In Wagile, we deploy a set of innovation tools to tackle the “how to” of each stage of work.

Wagile Stages and Gates

Wagile Stages and Wagile Gates are designed to involve the customer. After all, no innovation is valuable unless it meets a need in the marketplace and is saleable. Wagile tools use Design Thinking methods to gather customer insights and couple those inputs with measurable decision and performance standards. As a reminder the Wagile Stages and Gates are indicated here.

1: Opportunity Identification (Idea Gate)
2: Business Case (Functional Gate)
3: Technology Development (Technology Gate)
4: Scale-Up (Constructability Gate)
5: Production (Launch Gate)

Design Thinking Tools

To learn more about Design Thinking tools, read our previous post Tools for Product Innovation based on the work of Carlos Rodriguez (Delaware State University). Design Thinking is a customer-focused methodology to creatively and collaboratively solve customer problems. We involve the customer in defining problems and in creating solutions. We work collaboratively with cross-functional teams, both internally and externally. We ask questions and we listen.

Early in the Wagile product innovation process, we use observation and interviewing to gather customer insights. The Design Thinking tools of customer empathy map and customer journey map are deployed in Stage 1 (Opportunity Identification) to discover and define the customer problem. Download information on these tools here. An important outcome of the tools and activities in this stage is to determine if the gain for the customer is greater than the pain of acquiring and learning a new product.

An Example

I try to maintain a high level of fitness. I swim, bike, and lift weights. Recently, my husband got me a new Fitbit that allows me to track all exercises instead of just counting steps. It’s very convenient as I only have to select the correct icon, push start, and then press finish for each activity. And if I forget, the device automatically senses that I am cycling instead of running and tracks the calories burned.

However, I do not wear my new Fitbit when I go swimming. The pain is greater than the gain. Since swimming is still under the arbitrary restrictions of corona-panic, the pool is only open for 45 minutes at a time. My existing swim tracker records the number of laps, strokes per lap, efficiency, and calories burned. I would incur a transaction cost (lost time in the water) to calibrate my swim watch with the Fitbit. Right now, I view that cost as higher than the benefit (one device for all activities). Your customers will also weigh costs and benefits as they consider purchasing a new or updated upgraded product.

Design Tools in Wagile

Each stage in Wagile is defined to include specific tools to evaluate cost/benefit of an innovation. Design Thinking tools take the perspective of the customer. Later stages in Wagile use financial assessment tools (coupled with customer satisfaction measures) to determine cost/benefit from the company’s perspective. Remember organizations are in business to make money and deliver value to shareholders. Join me on 11 November for a Wagile tutorial and learn to apply Design Thinking tools in your innovation process! Register here.

Learn More

Check out where I’m speaking next (click here) and book me for your next event.
Get your copy of The Innovation ANSWER Book available at Amazon (now available on Kindle).
Vote on the cover of my next book, The Innovation QUESTION Book here.
Reference the new PDMA Body of Knowledge, available at Amazon.
Get your NPDP Certification! Join our October online class (Thursdays) following the brand new, 2^nd edition PDMA Body of Knowledge. REGISTER HERE!

About Me

I am inspired by writing, teaching, and speaking at great professional events. I tackle life with an infusion of rigor, zeal, and faith. It brings me joy to help you build innovation leaders. Teresa Jurgens-Kowal is an experienced innovation professional with a passion for lifelong learning with a PhD in Chemical Engineering and an MBA in Computer and Information Decision Making. My credentials include PE (State of Louisiana), NPDP, PMP®, and CPEM, and I am a DiSC® certified facilitator. Contact me at info@simple-pdh.com or area code 281 + phone 787-3979 for more information on coaching for entrepreneurs and innovators.

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

The Wagile Philosophy

Posted on 08.27.20

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

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

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

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

What is Wagile?

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

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

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

The Wagile Philosophy

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

Move fast
Practice discipline
Understand risks
Engage customers
Provide autonomy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Apply the Wagile Philosophy

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

Learn More

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

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

About Me

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

Roles in Wagile Product Development

Posted on 08.20.20

When I was in graduate school, I spent the better part of one day organizing our tool chest. In one drawer, I put all of our metric wrenches and sockets and then laid them out by size . Not only did it look tidy, but it was much more convenient to grab the right tool when you needed it. Everything had an assigned storage place and organizing the parts and pieces according to the job increased our efficiency in the lab.

People are what makes systems work. We assign roles and responsibilities within organizations to ensure that activities and tasks are completed. Similar to a tool chest, assigning job roles to different people ensures they are trained appropriately to conduct tasks as expected. The system itself often is less important than how the people assigned to various roles and responsibilities carry out their tasks within that process.

Wagile Product Development Reviewed

In the Wagile system of product development (read more here), certain roles and responsibilities are assigned to ensure an efficient product innovation effort accomplishes timely goals. As a quick recap, Wagile is a hybrid approach to traditional waterfall project management and the Agile philosophy commonly applied to software development. The advantage of Wagile over other new product development (NPD) systems is that it enhances the frequency of customer feedback during design and development. Another advantage of Wagile is that it applies iterative development within predetermined boundaries (e.g. budget and schedule). Finally, the biggest advantage of Wagile is enhanced communication and team collaboration. Read more about Wagile here.

Roles in Wagile

In every project management and product innovation system, it is critical to include customer perspectives, internal stakeholder viewpoints, and contributions of vendors and suppliers. The key roles of internal stakeholders in a Wagile process include the Project Leader, the Customer Representative, the Team Leader, and the Cross-Functional Team.

Project Leader

Because Wagile adopts the Agile philosophy, the process succeeds at improving time-to-market of new products by reducing hierarchy and bureaucracy. The role of Project Leader is much like a Scrum Master. The Project Leader serves the team to reduce barriers to efficiency and productivity. In addition, s/he interacts with senior executives, external stakeholders, and the Customer Representative to ensure the product development effort is on target. Some Project Leaders act in a dual role as a brand manager or product manager, tracking the overall life cycle value of the new product.

Customer Representative

No product development project can be successful without customer input. The role of Customer Representative in Wagile is to build trust with customers, to collect end-user data, and to organize market research activities for the target customer segment. In Scrum, the voice of customer is delegated to the Product Owner role. (Read more about typical Scrum roles here.) Yet, in practice, the product owner often bypasses true customer insights and reflects internal priorities for project execution instead. A critical performance metric for the customer representative in Wagile is the number of external customer, consumer, and end-user interactions.

Team Leader

The Team Leader and the Project Leader are like an old, married couple. They work together to accomplish the project goals and complement one another. While the Project Leader often focuses on longer term strategic objectives, the Team Leader focuses on operational and tactical goals. The Team Leader is charismatic and builds collaborative skills for the team. S/he also manages the new product development scope, schedule, and budget but has autonomy for decisions for project outcomes.

Cross-Functional Team

Not all project teams are created equal. The Wagile Cross-Functional Team brings together the “generalist–specialist” mentality of Scrum team members while also capitalizing on the depth of skills needed in a traditional project team. While teams are generally small in Wagile as in scrum, scalability is less of an issue.

Small teams allow for quicker and better decisions, so Wagile uses intimate Cross-Functional Teams to complete the tasks of the new product development project. However, as product innovation advances to later phases and requires greater talent investment, sub-teams form to accomplish specific goals and objectives. Communication among Cross-Functional Teams (and sub-teams) is vital to the success of any project, regardless of the project management system.

Roles for Wagile Product Development

Like any system, Wagile product development relies on the people to do the work of the project and to progress toward goals. Understanding the roles and responsibilities of key players within the system allows each person to access necessary training, streamline workflows, and improve communication. Critical roles in Wagile include the Project Leader, the Customer Representative, the Team Leader, and the Cross-Functional Team.

Learn More

Learn more about Wagile Product Development in my Webcast with PDMA on 10 September (register here). Contact me at info@globalnpsolutions.com for a complimentary 30-minute innovation coaching session.

Check out where I’m speaking next (click here) and book me for your next event.
Get your copy of The Innovation ANSWER Book available at Amazon (now available on Kindle).
Reference the new PDMA Body of Knowledge, available at Amazon.
Get your NPDP Certification! Join our October online class (Thursdays) following the brand new, 2^nd edition PDMA Body of Knowledge. REGISTER HERE!

About Me

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

What is Emotional Design?

Posted on 07.23.20

Watch the ultra-short video and then read on for full details.

I am a DiSC-certified facilitator. There are four primary work styles: “D” for dominance, “i” for influence, “S” for steadiness, and “C” for conscientiousness. My own work style is CD, meaning I prefer to focus on data to make a decision and I will generally take action quickly once I have the data analysis in hand.

People with “i” and “S” work styles tend to focus more on the needs of other people and will make decisions based on emotion even with little or no data. And while people with strong “C” and “D” work styles might puzzle over such behaviors, as product innovation professionals, we all know that customers make decisions based on emotion (to some degree or another).

That’s why the theory and practice of Emotional Design is important.

Emotional Design

Emotional design is part of specifying product requirements within the product design process. You can learn more about the overall product design process in another post (click here). Designers use the emotions that customers associate with product usage to identify and prioritize product features. When customers express positive emotions about a product, they tend to demonstrate more trust and loyalty to a specific product or brand. This often results in increased revenue.

Three Types of Emotional Design Information

Emotional design is based on the level of emotion and how individuals process information. We call thee levels: visceral, behavioral, and reflective. Let’s take a quick look at what these mean to product innovation.

Visceral Emotional Design

According to Dictionary.com, visceral means “characterized by … instinct rather than intellect”. This is our “animal brain” taking charge. We process certain emotions using a low level of basic motor skills and senses. So, visceral design is associated with physical senses, like the aesthetics or color of a product.

Consider, for example, a red sports car. It appeals to our basic senses and emotions because the styling is generally pleasing and implies speed (something that humans have craved throughout all time). Red as a color, in most societies, is associated with power. Therefore, on a visceral level, a red sports car represents a strong emotional design.

Behavioral Emotional Design

At a mid-level of emotional design are customers’ responses to an innovation according to memory and learning. Thus, the behavioral level of emotional design emphasizes the functionality and usability of a product.

Let’s use the red sports car as an example again. Many sports cars use a manual transmission to increase performance and to give the driver more control. However, very few Americans know how to drive a manual transmission. In order to be satisfied with the design, they would need to learn a new behavior. Yet, a car enthusiast already knows the skill of driving a stick shift and finds the design even more appealing.

Reflective Emotional Design

Finally, the highest level of emotional design is related to self-identity. The reflective level deals with feelings and emotions that determine understanding, reasoning, and interpretation. A wealthy bachelor feels that the red sports car reflects his personality. It is an extension of his “self” by showing power, strength, and speed. On the other hand, a mom with five kids would view the sports car as frivolous and not serving her important tasks of driving to school and soccer practice.

Why is Emotional Design Important?

As indicated, customers rarely buy a product based on data sheets and specifications alone. Emotion – whether explicit or subconscious – plays a role in all of our purchases. I’m not a fan of the color brown, personally, and I prefer bright colors for clothes and home decorations. My visceral emotions drive me away from earth tones. These are deep internal perceptions that have no explanation but are in parts of my subconscious brain (or soul).

Yet, I love learning new things. For my hobbies, I will test and buy products that I think will make my life easier or tasks quicker to finish. I am seeking functionalities for to improve behaviors. I want to use products and services that are easy.

What complicates product innovation at the behavioral and reflective levels is differentiating between a desire to learn and the status quo. Oftentimes, new products that add simplicity or convenience for a customer require a level of learning or new behaviors that require too much change. Customers will only accept a new level of features when the learning curve is a low hurdle.

Lastly, products that make us feel good are those that can command a price premium. (More information on pricing strategies is found here.) Experiences and luxury items appeal to our personal sense of self and identity. Reflective emotional design builds emotions and personality into product development. While basic aesthetics and form can be tested for broad market acceptance, reflective design often focuses on narrower target customer segments who share similar values. You may want to consider a segmentation strategy when your product innovation depends on reflective emotional design.

Learn More

Check out where I’m speaking next (click here). You can book me for speaking by contacting me directly or through Innovation Women.
Get your copy of The Innovation ANSWER Book. Available at Amazon in paperback and Kindle version.
Reference the new PDMA Body of Knowledge, available at Amazon.
Do you know your strategy? Is it time to narrow your focus or expand to serve more customers? Join me for the two-part Reset Your Strategy workshop on 18 and 20 August. Register here – special discounts for the unemployed.

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

About Me

Using PESTLE in a Recovery Strategy

Posted on 05.28.20

Watch the short video (<1 minute) and then read on for all the details!

While our country has never before shuttered the economy, we have also never been faced with such challenges in innovation in business. “Experts” predict V-shaped and U-s0haped recoveries. Personally, the prediction of a “swoosh”-shaped recovery seems more reasonable; and it gives me hope for fan-based sports in its terminology, too.

Regardless of size or scope of your business, the so-called “reopening” allows you a chance to reset your strategy. In an earlier post, we discussed using SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) as a strategic assessment of your internal capabilities. Opportunities and threats are external drivers in the model, yet how do you ascertain competitor actions when the shape of the business landscape has shifted irreversibly?

This is where another strategy planning tool can be of essence in resetting your business and innovation strategies. PESTLE is a technique that forces an organization to examine trends outside their control, narrowing the possible scenarios for future conditions. The acronym PESTLE represents political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental situations and trends.

Political

In the US, the corona-panic has illuminated some strong political trends that are likely to continue unabated into the future. First, increased socialism and government control is likely. American citizens have demonstrated they will give up fundamental rights (e.g. the right to assembly and the right to religious freedom) when threatened with an unspecified health fear. It is unwise to trust that all elected and appointed government officials will treat their power with fairness and justice.

Second, policy makers have realized that using the word “science” in any conversation is effective to convince the electorate to succumb any personal responsibility or liberty. Many US citizens have only a limited math or science education (and, unfortunately, we continue to fall behind most other first world nations), so telling someone it is “science” without providing factual data is proof enough for most.

How do these political trends impact your business and innovation strategies? Are you positioned to take advantage of growing government bureaucracies? Will you be nimble enough to navigate a flurry and inconsistent network of illogical rules and regulations again?

Economic

There are not enough words in my vocabulary to describe the economic damage of the corona-panic. As we plan new business and innovation strategies, one key economic trend stands out. Debt. Before the corona-panic, the US economy was already headed toward an unsustainable debt-to-GDP ratio. With massive stimulus bills and shrinking output, the debt-to-GDP ratio is at astronomical levels, never seen before – even in times of war.

With a fiat currency (meaning printed money and not based on bullion value), increased debt means inflation and higher taxes. How can you incorporate these threats into your business and innovation strategies going forward? What does it mean for product pricing strategies?

Social

Social trends are yet to be determined coming out of the corona-panic. There are some people who had readily believe the disastrously wrong models from government agencies and consequently believe any social interaction will result in immediate death. Many of us have looked at the data and will continue to want to live our lives with normal human contact: going to the movies, concerts, and trade shows.

As an individual, I dread the trend away from face-to-face events. It is nearly impossible to meet new people and to connect in a virtual world. The coffee pot conversations, lunch discussions, and happy hour connections at events allow us to interact as human beings were designed to do. No one should be expected to sit in front of a computer screen for hours (or days) on end and expect to build an important relationship.

Yet, as you reset your business and innovation strategies, virtual meetings are, at least, a short-term reality. How can you involve customers in your product innovation work in a virtual world? How will you plan for qualitative feedback when you can’t see your potential customers? What does “moving online” mean for your business?

Technology

With the advent of doing everything virtually and without contact, your business and innovation strategies must incorporate technological changes. We are sure to see a slew of new technical tools (other than zoom, I hope!) to run our business in a digital, nonhuman world. There are also going to be more frequent and more numerous cyberattacks. Are you building IT strength into your business and innovation strategies? Digital transformation trends will continue to dominate physical product development. Are you linking “digital” applications with all hardware development?

Legal

There is no doubt that legal implications will continue to grow as the world emerges from the corona-panic. HR experts will tell you that if your employees are afraid of getting sick at work, you will need to make a legal disability accommodation and let them work from home. How will you monitor project work and schedules when your staff does not meet together?

Further, if one of your team members coughs or sneezes, how do you treat that? If another team member catches a cold, will she sue you? I believe there will be a whole host of new illnesses arising from the overuse of cleaning products. Government “experts” are encouraging nearly continuous use of hand sanitizer, yet I am reminded that it is the only solution I use to effectively remove bicycle grease. Once I spilled a few drops of hand sanitizer on my desk and it removed the varnish. Are you prepared for a trend of chronic diseases from chemical usage in a workplace? What other legal implications threaten your business or the introduction of a new product?

Environmental

As a result of the corona-panic, I believe there are favorable environmental trends to influence our business and innovation strategies. The tremendous hit that oil and gas took during the panic creates opportunities for petrochemical manufacturing. Distribution costs should decline as diesel and jet fuel are less expensive. Peoples’ fears regarding short-term environmental destruction have been replaced with an immediate health and safety fear. While both fears are completely irrational (and not based on existing data but so-called “science”), environmental restrictions will be loosened in many areas so business can get going again. For example, allowing a truck driver to haul two trailers in tandem versus a single trailer might benefit how your products get to market.

Use PESTLE to Design a Recovery Strategy

Every business, large or small, must deeply probe its innovation strategy today. Understanding and studying external opportunities and threats can help you formulate an effective recovery strategy. Use PESTLE to identify trends impacting innovation and business conditions during “reopening”.

What political trends are happening locally or nationally to threaten your business? Will the economic conditions (especially increasing debt, inflation, and taxes) cause a change in your business structure? Which societal trends will allow you to grow and which fears of society might threaten your innovation programs?

Examine technology advances and incorporate enhanced cyber security into your strategies. Be prepared for a slew of legal actions, especially as elections are anticipated and the way we vote in a democracy is changed away from secure and known trends. How will employee behaviors influence your strategies to prepare for health and safety lawsuits? Finally, are there any environmental trends that can open opportunities or provide a benefit to your innovation strategy?

Learn More about Strategy

Strategy lays the groundwork for all innovation work. If you don’t know what your strategy is, you cannot succeed. Contact me at area code 281, phone 787-3979 for a complimentary 30-minute innovation coaching session. We will discuss how you can apply SWOT and PESTLE in your own unique business situation to immediately see results.

Other Resources

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

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

About Me

Identifying Your New Innovation Workflow

Posted on 05.21.20

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

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

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

What is a Workflow?

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

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

Workflow is NOT a Schedule

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

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

Designing an Innovation Workflow

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

Innovation Workflow, copyright Global NP Solutions

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

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

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

Innovation Workflows

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

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.