Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. Radar.Oreilly.com was a blog site owned by the American learning company O’Reilly Media. The blog published content about emerging technologies. It boasted that it had “a pretty good record at having anticipated some of the big developments in recent technological history.”   Today, attempts to find Radar.Oreilly.com triggers the messages, “This site can’t be reached” and “radar.oreilly.com took too long to respond.” While trying to find out what happened to the site, we also found some of t ..read more

So-called “Waterfall” or “Phase-Gate” product development methodologies often give management the illusion that they are under control of the project, while they are actually just meddling and slowing it down. Each formal gate meeting or project review is an opportunity for every manager to put the project team under scrutiny about what they have accomplished and whether they should continue with the next phase. I have been on both sides of the PC projector for many of these reviews, so I know what I am talking about. When a gate checkpoint meeting or formal review is approaching, the project ..read more

Many companies are measuring the wrong things and ending up with the wrong results. Many times we see organizations get stuck on measuring what’s easy instead of what’s useful. Or they focus on metrics that tell them whether they’ve succeeded or failed rather than measuring the behaviors that drive success. Predictive metrics are the solution to this problem. Predictive metrics are fundamentally different from results metrics in that they measure a process or behavior rather than an outcome. The Predictive Metrics Tree is a tool that ensures that what you’re measuring helps you achieve your pr ..read more

The rate of technology and market change today is staggering. For example, who could have imagined Google and Apple displacing auto companies? Yet, too many companies lack a Portfolio Management process that enables them to respond effectively to such shifts in markets and in the labs. Even many companies that have an adequate portfolio process lack the ability to make the decisions that allow them to alter course quickly. This results in products that lose competitive market position and fail to meet revenue targets. Program Managers are a key to meeting these competitive threats. They are pl ..read more

In a previous post, we advocated two systems for managing your company’s early stage product innovation activities. The first is a yearly planning process that ties the company’s vision to a strategy and provides a set of roadmaps that drive the annual budgeting process. This strategic planning process takes into account not only product concepts, but also projects under development, and those in the current marketplace. Such a yearly, 30,000 foot view is necessary, but, we argue, not sufficient. Most companies require another system to manage the so-called fuzzy front end. We advocate a front ..read more

In too many companies, the front end of development remains as fuzzy as it was decades ago. The same companies that will micro-manage IT, or spend time simplifying a portion of their manufacturing operations, show little interest in improving the early stage innovation activities that drive future top line growth. Within product development, companies spend time endlessly revising budgets, while ignoring the strategic management of the ideas that are the lifeblood of technology companies. The most striking product innovations are the result of both strategic planning and the careful nurturing ..read more

Have you ever had an excellent product concept derailed by internal politics? Of course you have because almost anyone who has been through the product development process more than a few times has experienced this. It is frustrating since good ideas that could benefit the company as well as the individuals involved are blocked for irrational causes. Can anything been done to help eliminate these roadblocks? The Attitude Influence Diagram is one tool that helps to overcome political obstacles. It is a scatter plot of your project’s supporters and detractors that helps you to isolate and manage ..read more

You can’t take the risk out of invention and no project is completely risk-free. But you can reduce the risk, even in the most innovative programs. How? By anticipating it. The Risk Management Matrix is an elegant way to anticipate, manage, and mitigate product development risks. The benefit of this methodology is that it defines a specific risk trigger point and defines it as a quantitative threshold. It also includes an action plan to mitigate the risk should you exceed the threshold. Benefits of the Risk Management Matrix Helps identify risks before they occur Mitigates risks through ea ..read more

In any kind of project or program, situations often occur that require escalation for decisions to be made above the level of the project team. Typical examples of such situations include changes of project scope, unforeseen technical problems, overspending, lost expertise, and schedule slippages or changes. The problems can get especially costly in a heavily matrixed organization, wherein people who report to various functions (engineering, marketing, finance, manufacturing, etc.) are essentially “on loan” to a program manager to complete the deliverables. Some or all of these people may be w ..read more

What’s new? This is a process that is lean, fast, and effective in getting teams focused and back on track when material changes are made in a project. Setting “boundary conditions” at the time of a project’s approval is an effective way to create a “contract” between the management and project teams.  This contract allows teams to move forward with minimal guidance as long as the boundary conditions (typical cost, schedule, features & quality) are not crossed.  And when those boundaries are crossed, the Out of Bounds (OOB) review is the mechanism to course correct and realign to ..read more