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Team Culture and Hybrid NPD Processes

Culture is one of those words that we all know what it means, yet we struggle to identify and name it.  Team and organizational cultures are best characterized from those within the group.  They might describe the culture as open and risk-tolerant or as hierarchical and lacking trust. 

New product development (NPD) is a systematic approach to convert nascent ideas into salable products and services.  Not every idea makes it to the marketplace nor should they.  We develop new products by taking advantage of new technologies and by combining concepts into new opportunities.  NDP is a fun arena in which to work because product managers can apply business knowledge, technical skills, and market research to drive success.

A Typical Hybrid NPD Process

Most product development professionals are familiar with waterfall or staged-and-gated process.  These approaches to NPD include upfront customer research and product design followed sequentially by prototype testing and manufacturing scale-up.  Thus, the term “waterfall” as each phase flows to the next with appropriate management approvals and team hand-offs.

At the opposite end of the spectrum are Agile processes that support project management of (primarily) software product development.  Scrum is the most widely deployed Agile methodology and uses short periods of collaborative teamwork to accomplish small tasks.  Flexibility is valued above planning, yet full Agile practices are difficult to successfully implement for NPD.

Hybrid NPD processes include WAGILE (read more here) and Lean NPD (read more here).  These processes embrace the discipline of setting boundaries (e.g., gates or management reviews) while simultaneously supporting frequent experimentation and direct customer feedback.  Integrating the structure of waterfall approaches with the desire for continuous learning of Agile systems, hybrid NPD offers key benefits to product development such as improved speed-to-market and increased customer satisfaction.

Teamwork in a Hybrid Environment

Product development teams have their own culture, just as any group has its own culture.  For hybrid NPD processes, teams must actively collaborate to achieve a shared purpose.  This starts with trust.  In The Innovation ANSWER Book, we discuss the theory of intellectual trust and emotional trust.  Taking the necessary, calculated risks for NPD success requires teams built on emotional trust.  Let me give an illustration from the feline world.

Along with a number of our neighbors, we feed a handful of stray cats.  We’ve named them based on their looks and coloring, so we have “Ginger” and “Gray”, for instance.  Most of the strays give us only intellectual trust.  They wander by each person’s door, checking to see if food has been set out.  Yet, they are easily spooked if we walk too close to them or attempt to pet them.  They intellectually trust us to deliver food but are unwilling to take further risks.

However, a couple of the strays have built adequate emotional trust with the humans.  They meow at us and allow people to get close.  One neighbor has invited one in to watch television with her, have a snack, and then be on his way.  She has a cute collection of photos of the white cat.  Another of the strays was sitting outside my door one day with a beat-up cat I’d never seen before.  She trusted us to feed and help him back to good health. 

Team Trust and Hybrid NPD

Do your NPD teams have a culture of trust?    Are our teams willing to take risks or do they scatter like stray cats when the going gets tough?

Successful implementation of quicker and more effective hybrid NPD processes requires a high degree of emotional trust.  Management must trust their teams (within well-defined boundaries) to execute the development work in the best way they know how.  Team leaders must trust the process to balance risk of investment and speed.  Individual contributors trust their own excellence and commitment to growing a culture of disciplined, yet flexible, product development tools.

Learn More

Please contact me at [email protected] to learn more about hybrid NPD project team effectiveness.  

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Is Agile a Digital Version of Waterfall?

I first encountered the terms “analog” and “digital” in high school physics.  While I probably remember more about the pranks my classmates played on our teacher, the terms analog and digital repeatedly popped up in my engineering education.  For those of you who had a high school physics teacher NOT named Mr. Founds, we’ll touch on the definitions of these two words and investigate how they relate to product and project management.

Analog vs. Digital

Analog – in layman’s language – means you can select whatever value you want.  Think of an old-fashioned radio tuning dial that turns back-and-forth.  As you seek a particular frequency, you first hear static, then a mix of static with the music, then the music comes in strongly.  If you turn the dial too far, you’re back in the static zone.

In Houston, I enjoy listening to 89.3FM.  With a digital device, there are exact increments, and your radio “dial” will lock onto specific stations.  So, in my car, I tune from 89.1 (static) to 89.3 (music) to 89.5 (static).  The “digital” increment on my car radio is 0.2 on the FM frequency.

Waterfall Project Management

Waterfall project management has fallen out of favor in recent years.  I believe there is a place for waterfall project management, especially in the space of tangible product development.  In general, waterfall suggests upfront planning and a detailed list of features and requirements for the new product.  Usually, detailed schedules are created during early project planning phases, with assigned tasks and resources.

Agile Project Management

While extensive upfront planning can work for projects with low levels of technical uncertainty and low levels of requirements uncertainty, waterfall fails to be flexible and adaptable to changing customer needs throughout the project lifecycle.  When the schedule is disrupted, the plan must be re-created and tasks dependent on other tasks fall behind schedule.

Agile project management promises flexibility by planning just the minimum work necessary to build a minimum set of features (often called an MVP, minimum viable product).  Teams and tasks are designed to be isolated from interruptions (dependencies).  Autonomy and empowerment are key to success in Agile implementations.

Agile is Digital Waterfall

The drawback, I believe, of many Agile implementations is a heavy emphasis on the ceremonies and artifacts of the process.  Instead of using these elements as tools to assist development work, some Agile teams use the ceremonies and artifacts in the same way waterfall teams use upfront planning tools (e.g., Gantt charts and critical path analysis).  The sprint increment in Agile becomes a set of planning meetings that could have been handled with a larger, upfront activity in waterfall.  In essence, sprints tune the radio at specific frequency increments while waterfall can spin the dial to get close to the final result.

WAGILE Product Development Meets in the Middle

Some of the equipment I used in engineering school had a combination of analog and digital tuning.  You used the digital selection to get to the right range of data (e.g., the left end of the radio dial) while you used analog tuning to get to the specific reading (e.g., 89.3 FM).  Other pieces of equipment were the opposite – using analog selection to get within range and digital selection for a specific, known incremental value.  Regardless of the device, the benefits of combining analog and digital were obvious and well above analog-alone or digital-alone.

WAGILE product development is much the same.  We use a hybrid project management model, picking the best aspects of waterfall and of Agile.  (Thus, the name – WAGILE.)  Overlaying incremental feature development with frequent customer interactions onto a disciplined, risk-balanced staged-and-gated process can lead to faster development times and increased customer satisfaction.

Learn more in the upcoming WAGILE Product Development workshop (15 & 17 February).

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Innovation Project Planning

Project planning is a best practice.  We all plan big projects at work that involve construction or R&D effort.  We create project plans when there is a requirement for integration of many functions and the coordination of multiple tasks.

Types of Project Plans

Traditionally, project plans are created based on the scope of work.  We estimate the tasks necessary to complete the project and calculate the duration of each activity.  Next, we assign resources by function and name to each task.  The output is a pre-determined project plan with a critical path of tasks and expected resources that show how quickly the project can be executed.

In an Agile framework, project planning uses progressive elaboration.  As in traditional project planning, we determine a list of requirements upfront.  However, in Scrum (the most common Agile implementation for innovation and tangible new product development, NPD) we determine product features necessary to satisfy the end-user’s application.  A rank-ordered list of features prioritizes project execution based upon developing the most important features first.

Scrum estimates are usually relative and compared to tasks with known duration and cost.  For example T-shirt sizing (small, medium, and large) is a common way of estimating Agile projects.  In this example, relative sizes are based upon known standards and each feature development is estimated relative to that standard. 

Visualizing the Project Plan

In traditional project management, the output is typically a Gantt chart showing task relationships and duration.  The critical path represents all tasks that must be completed on schedule to prevent the entire project schedule from slipping.  These tasks are often resource-constrained, as projects rely on experts to do specialized product development work.  In other cases, vendor-supplied equipment and customer use tests can be limiting factors.

In Scrum, the project schedule is not usually illustrated as a whole.  A product roadmap shows major feature releases for the product, often in conjunction with other products, services, and applications.  Task level planning is done by the team using the prioritized feature list.  Team members score the difficulty (and duration) of tasks needed to complete a specific feature.  A technique called “planning poker” helps the team reach consensus on the “size” of these tasks (e.g. relative sizing of small, medium, or large).

For operational work of the NPD team, a Kanban board (sometimes called a Scrum board) shows tasks assigned to the sprint.  As work is completed during a Sprint, a symbol of the task (usually a short description written on a sticky note) is moved from columns on the Kanban board indicating workto-do, work-in-progress, testing, and completed.

At a higher level, all of the “story points” or scores of the relative estimates for product design are added.  As each feature is completed, its score is subtracted from the total.  Thus the “burndown” chart shows an estimate of work remaining in each Sprint.  The burndown chart may be used in conjunction with the Kanban chart or these tools can be deployed separately.

Adjusting the Project Plan

Of course, no project plan is accurate or perfect.  The minute we put pencil to paper, the schedule is apt to change.  In traditional project management, a Change Control Board reviews major project changes according to the advice of the project manager.  In Scrum (Agile), changes to the project scope are expected, resulting in the iterative nature of the system.  Tasks not completed in one sprint are added to the “backlog” of the next sprint.  This is reflected in a lower-than-planned burndown rate as well as increased work-in-progress on the Kanban board.  NPD teams must be concerned if this backlog is too high.

Planning Projects

Innovation projects, construction projects, and engineering projects all require planning.  We must anticipate the requirements, the schedule, and the cost.  These estimates help decision-makers and project leaders determine investments and to assess tolerable risk levels.  Project plans indicate whether a project can achieve benefits that outweigh costs.

Consider the following elements as you plan your next innovation project:

  • Scope of work,
  • Number and complexity of features,
  • Necessary tasks and activities to do the work,
  • Resources available and skilled to do the work,
  • Realistic project schedules indicating duration (not just effort) of each task,
  • How to assess changes, and
  • Risk management.

Learn More

Project planning is foundational to effective project selection and should be directly linked to Product Portfolio Management for innovation work.  Please join me starting 7 February 2002 for a once-per-year unique opportunity to apply 100 Days to Effective PPM in your teams.  Register here.

If you’re interested in learning more about hybrid project planning (traditional waterfall blended with Agile/Scrum), please join me for WAGILE Product Development on 15 and 17 February 2022.  Register here.

Customers and Product Development

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 [email protected] for more information.

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What is WAGILE?

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.

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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.

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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 [email protected] for innovation consulting.   

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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 [email protected] or area code 281 + phone 787-3979 for more information on coaching for entrepreneurs and innovators.

Unless otherwise indicated, images used under Creative Commons.

Wagile Leadership

I became interested in leadership when I was first appointed to a supervisory position.  My first exposure to leading a team was negative – from my perspective – but my management saw a different view.  I thought that being a manager meant I was not smart enough to continue on the technical ladder.  Little did I know that most technical answers are easy compared to motivating a team toward a common goal. 

Innovation leadership takes many forms.  In all cases, there must be a follower for a leader to exist.  Leaders engender willing followers.  We want to learn from others who have been successful.  We want to take direction from someone who has demonstrated skill at problem-solving.  We want to mimic the behaviors of inspiring people. 

What is a Wagile Leader?

Before we discuss Wagile leadership, I want to take a quick detour to define Wagile.  Wagile is a product innovation process to create and launch groundbreaking new products and services.  The word Wagile comes from a combination of the terms “waterfall” and “agile”.  Waterfall approaches to project management use upfront planning while agile project management acts on an evolving scope of work. 

The Wagile philosophy thus integrates the best of both project management approaches.

  • Move fast
  • Practice discipline
  • Understand risk
  • Engaged customers
  • Provide autonomy

Wagile Roles in Leadership

Each Wagile role serves as a leader.  Being non-hierarchical and flexible, Wagile does not specify one person, one role, or one organization as a primary decision-maker.  Rather, all roles act as leaders to ensure customer satisfaction with new product development (NPD).  As described in detail here, the Wagile roles include:

  • Project leader,
  • Customer representative,
  • Team leader, and
  • Cross-functional team. 

Wagile leadership characteristics focus on engaging customers to deliver high-quality products and services that meet market needs while generating profit for the firm.  Servant leadership traits of putting the team before self are important as are elements of Emotional Intelligence (such as self-awareness and self-control).  I have observed that the most successful teams are mission-oriented to create a common good rather than egocentric to promote a manager’s self-interest. 

In my practice of innovation teaching and coaching, I often used work style assessments to drive the leadership conversation.  An important starting point for product innovation teams is the Innovation Health Assessment™ to benchmark your organization’s NPD maturity against industry standards.  (Take your complimentary Innovation Health Assessment here.)   

Another work style assessment I use is called the Team Dimensions Profile.  As a DiSC-certified management facilitator, I prefer the language of Team Dimensions for innovation team growth.  We identify individual working preferences as Creator, Advancer, Refiner, or Executer.  Note that these are not the same as ingrained personality because each of us can stretch to different work roles as needed to accomplish the project goals.  (Learn more about Team Dimensions here where I spoke with the Everyday Innovator podcast.) 

In fact, it is the capability of team members on a Wagile project to stretch and serve as generalist-specialists that make each of us leaders.  Generalist-specialists are people who have a deep knowledge and expertise in one arena (specialist) but also a desire to learn and help across the board (generalist). 

Learn More

If you want to know more about Wagile and how to apply it in your own organization, join me for a short seminar on 10 November 2020 (2-4 pm CST).  Upon completion of this course, you will be equipped with a set of tools to speed product to market for innovation success.  Register here.  To investigate and expand your personal development style, please join me for the Life Design Master Mind Q&A on 11 November 2020 at 11 am CST (free), followed by subsequent in-depth workshops over the next six months.  Register here for the free webinar.  Contact me at [email protected] with questions about these workshops. 

© 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 [email protected] or area code 281 + phone 787-3979 for more information on coaching for entrepreneurs and innovators.

Wagile Tools

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, 2nd edition PDMA Body of Knowledge.  REGISTER HERE!

About Me

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

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.

The Wagile Stages

This week’s blog continues our series on the Wagile product development process.  Wagile is a hybrid of traditional waterfall (“w-”) and Agile (-“agile”) systems.  The Wagile philosophy is to move fast, practice discipline, understand risk, engage customers, and provide autonomy. 

copyright Global NP Solutions, LLC

Traditional Stages and Gates

In a conventional new product development (NPD) process, stages are defined intervals where work gets done.  Gates are used as decision points – does the project advance to the next stage of work?  The advantage of a staged-and-gated framework for innovation projects is the discipline of a structured system.  Risk is managed because the investment in R&D or technology development is low when uncertainty is high (e.g. early stages). 

A common complaint of traditional NPD processes is that the system becomes overly bureaucratic.  Many managers recognize the inherent risk of innovation projects.  So, in the view of a risk-averse person or entity, knowing all the answers and planning for all contingencies upfront should eliminate risk.  Yet, this behavior drives costs of investigation and evaluation up without learning from failure.  Failure is perceived negatively. 

Scrum Artifacts and Meetings

Scrum, the most common implementation of Agile, uses increments of work called “sprints”.  Rather than defining specific task completions as in the traditional staged-and-gated framework, sprints are defined by time.  A typical Sprint last two to four weeks. 

The team works with the organization’s business analysts to determine what work tasks they can accomplish during each Sprint.  The idea is to have a deep focus on the highest priority features first. 

Risk is managed in Scrum by developing a minimally viable product (MVP).  The advantages that cost should be low by designing highest priority features early and avoiding “gold-plating” of products and services.  A challenge in Scrum is to define “done”, and my many features end up with gold-plating anyway. 

Another difference between Wagile and Scrum is when the team cannot complete the agreed-upon tasks within the sprint.  Activities then rollover to the next sprint, creating a backlog.  Sprint backlogs impact the overall project schedule and can cause delays in market launch. 

Wagile Stages

As we discussed in an earlier post, the Wagile gates are decision points in a project to move forward.  The plan for the next stage of work is approved at the gate review.  Stages of work in Wagile have two boundaries:  task completion and risk.  Schedule or project budget serves as a proxy for risk.  A stage is complete when either (1) the tasks are finished or (2) the schedule/budget is consumed.  Every stage has a set of required activities (standard) and a set of specific questions related to the individual project.  The Wagile stages are:

  1. Opportunity Identification,
  2. Business Case,
  3. Technology Development,
  4. Scale-Up, and
  5. Production.

Wagile Stage Activities

A key differentiator for Wagile versus other innovation processes is customer focus.  Stage-Gate™ was designed by Bob Cooper to include customer feedback but does not explicitly call it out.  Scrum uses the role of the Product Owner to represent the voice of customer.  Unfortunately, the Product Owner often presses internal demands for features and technology rather than the external needs of a target market.  In Wagile, each stage requires customer interaction via the Customer Representative role, tools, and tests. 

For example, in Stage 1 (Opportunity Identification), activities include Create, Trial, and Validate.  Both Trial and Validation require customer feedback.  These activities cannot be completed (or measured) without external data.  At Stage 1, however, these data are qualitative for the most part. 

Similarly, subsequent Wagile stages include required customer feedback activities of concept testing, technical functionality testing, prototype testing, and market testing.  Wagile stages are complete only when customer feedback is recorded.  In the situation where schedule or budget (project risk elements) are depleted before customer feedback is gathered, the project is re-evaluated through the Product Portfolio Management system.  Often, challenges in gathering customer feedback are symptoms of an unattractive project. 

Using Wagile  

Wagile stages, like conventional NPD process stages, are where work gets done.  Unlike a traditional system, recycle of activities and iteration of the new product or service idea is encouraged.  On the other hand, Wagile varies from Scrum (which also encourages utilizes iterative design) by installing hard barriers associated with customer feedback and risk. 

Ask yourself if your NPD process is balancing discipline with flexibility.  Are you getting the expected results within the desired time frame?  If not, it’s probably time to revamp your process.  Research shows that revitalizing your product innovation process with industry best practices leads to continued success.  And if you don’t have consistent customer feedback, flexibility, and discipline built into your NPD process, it’s time to become Wagile!  Join me on 11 November for a Wagile tutorial and right-size your product innovation workflows.  Register here. 

Learn More

Learn more about Wagile Product Development in my Webcast with PDMA on 10 September (register here).  Contact me at [email protected] 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).
  • 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, 2nd edition PDMA Body of Knowledge.  REGISTER HERE!

About Me

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

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.

Wagile Gates

Have you ever jumped ahead of yourself just to realize later that you missed a step?  Have you ever launched a new product to find out that consumers didn’t actually like the feature configuration?  Have you ever made a mistake and then realized it was dejá vu all over again? 

All of us make mistakes.  We learn from making errors and we learn by knowing what not to do.  In product innovation, learning from failure is an important trait for organizations to succeed over the long run.  In fact, learning is at the heart of the Wagile Philosophy (read more here).  However, making the same mistake twice – or three times or four times – is not learning.  Repeated errors demonstrate the lack of quality systems and an absence of a directing process. 

What is Wagile?

Fragile is a hybrid new product development (NPD) process.  Wagile balances the structure of a traditional, waterfall system with the iterative and customer-focused nature of an Agile development process (like Scrum).  The Wagile philosophy emphasizes moving fast while practicing discipline and understanding risks.  Wagile uses both stages of work and gates as checkpoints for product innovation. 

Wagile Gates

Gate reviews in NPD are predominant in traditional waterfall processes, like Bob Cooper’s Stage-Gate™ system.  Gate reviews serve as checkpoints to gauge completion of work-to-date and a plan for future project work.  In practice, there should be no surprises at a gate review and the cross-functional team that approves the go-forward plan should understand the scope, schedule, and budget well before the formal meeting. 

Gate reviews are important elements in any NPD process.  In Scrum, we call this review a “retrospective” (read more about Scrum here).  The purpose of a gate or retrospective is the same:  Do customers want the product as we are designing it?  Can we make a profit?  Is this new product aligned with our strategic goals and objectives? 

Entry and Exit Gates

Entry gates are a pet peeve of mine.  The entry gate is approved simply by showing that work on the previous stage is complete.  That’s a great accomplishment for the team, but what matters more for innovation is whether the go-forward plan makes sense. 

In contrast, an exit gate evaluates both the prior work and approves the product design for future work.  The multi-disciplinary management team approving the project at an exit gate must have appropriate budgetary authority for the next stage of work.  In this way, risk and strategic alignment are addressed throughout the life of the project. 

The Wagile Gate Sequence

Wagile gates are designed as exit gates, to ensure go-forward work will advance product innovation and the overall product portfolio.  The following lists the Wagile gates and the expected outcome of each decision. 

  • 1-Opportunity Gate.  The Opportunity Gate validates that the product idea and concept meet a target market need.  Enough testing has been done to demonstrate customer wants and needs for the new product.  Importantly, decision-makers approve the concept is having a potential profit and fit with the organization’s strategic growth goals.  Passing the Opportunity Gate means a project team is authorized to investigate the scope of design, development, and market impacts. 
  • 2-Business Case.  It is important to justify a project early enough to not waste resources.  While any project will have more information gathered during execution, unattractive projects should be killed early.  Reviewers of the Business Case approve that the new product fits the organization’s growth goals, is strategically aligned, and will meet profitability expectations for the level of innovation involved.  This approval funds the technology and market development efforts. 
  • 3-Technology Gate.  The Technology Gate builds on the Business Case gate.  Cost of development is balanced against anticipated sales and customer needs.  Costs are at the forefront as are feasibility studies.  The Technology Gate grants approval for developing at scale.  This gate may include approval of licensing and early order equipment items. 
  • 4-Constructability Gate.  At the Constructability Gate, the cross-functional decision-makers commit to building production facilities, supply and distribution chains, and marketing collateral.  Bob Cooper often discusses a “money gate” in his work, essentially a point of no return.  In some ways, the Constructability Gate serves as this “money gate”.  Yet the iterative nature of Wagile allows a project to undergo appropriate iterations thereby ensuring quality control and risk are managed within the tolerance level of the organization. 
  • 5-Launch.  The Launch Gate represents the go-to-market decision for a new product.  Measures of profitability will validate earlier decisions (e.g. the business case).  However, the Wagile process encourages continued adjustment of the product offering to meet customer needs.  Engaged customers help the Project Leader and Customer Representative gain market insights for the life of the product and as inputs for next generation products.  Read more about Wagile Roles here.

Using Wagile Gates

Like any project management system, Wagile uses gate reviews as checkpoints to gauge the progress of work .  Unlike traditional waterfall processes, not passing a gate is not a punitive measure for the team.  Instead, the flexibility of learning is built into Wagile and “no” decision at a gate review simply means a better opportunity is available.  Believe me, team members prefer the option of working on a new project over scolding for not meeting entry gate criteria! 

Gates provide discipline in Wagile that is often missing in Scrum or other Agile processes.  Discipline is important for both teams and senior management to increase creativity  and to increase profitability.  Wagile further builds flexibility into gate reviews by the hybrid nature of the system. 

Learn More

  • Learn more about Wagile Product Development in my Webcast with PDMA on 10 September (register here). 
  • Delve into the full Wagile process in a virtual, facilitated workshop on 10 November 2020 (register here).  Workshop participants have access to downloadable templates and tools to fast track innovation!
  • 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, 2nd edition PDMA Body of Knowledge.  REGISTER HERE!

About Me

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

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.

The Wagile Philosophy

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

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

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

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

What is Wagile?

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

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

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

The Wagile Philosophy

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

  • Move fast
  • Practice discipline
  • Understand risks
  • Engage customers
  • Provide autonomy
Copyright Global NP Solutions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Apply the Wagile Philosophy

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

Learn More

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

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

About Me

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

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.