Development Processes and Organizations

Chapter 2

What are the key product development activities that must be included in every project?

What project milestones and review gates can be used to manage the overall development process by phases?

Is there a standard development process that will work for everyone?

What role to experts from different functional areas play in the development process?

Questions

Sequence of steps that an enterprise employs to conceive, design, and commercialize a product.

Usefulness of a well-defined product development process◦ Quality assurance◦ Coordination◦ Planning◦ Management◦ Improvement

The Product Development Process

0 = Planning1 = Concept development2 = System level design3 = Detail design4 = Testing and refinement5 = Production ramp-up

Used for market-pull products ◦ Identify market opportunity and use whatever

technologies are available to satisfy need

Six Phases of Generic Product Development

Identifying customer needs Establishing target specifications Concept generation Concept selection Concept testing Setting final specifications Project planning Economic analysis Benchmarking of competitive products Modeling and prototyping

Concept Development: The Front End Process

Technology –push products◦ Start with proprietary technology and identify

appropriate market to apply the technology Platform built around preexisting

technological subsystem◦ Intel chipset, iPhone operating system, Gillette

razor blade Process-Intensive Products

◦ Food, chemicals, paper◦ Production process constrains the product

properties

Adapting the Generic Product Development Process

Customized products◦ light variations of standard configurations

High-Risk Products◦ technical risk – will product function properly?◦ market risk – will customer like the product?◦ budget and schedule risk – can team complete

product on time and within budget? Quick Build Products

◦ software and electronics – design-build-test cycle is repeated several times

◦ rapid iteration = spiral product development process

Adapting the Generic Product Development Process

Complex systems◦ larger scale products such as automobiles and

planes◦ concept development phase considers the

architecture of the entire system◦ system is decomposed into subsystems and

components◦ detail design is a parallel process in which many

teams operate separately.

Adapting the Generic Product Development Process

Product Development Process Flows

Tyco Product Development Process

Exhibit 2-7

Organizations are formed by establishing links among individuals.◦ reporting relationships◦ financial arrangements◦ physical layout

Organizational links may be aligned with functions, projects, or both

Product Development Organizations

How important is cross-functional integration?

How critical is cutting-edge functional expertise to business success?

Can individuals from each function be fully utilized for most of the duration of a project?

How important is product development speed?

Exhibit 2-9

Choosing an Organizational Structure – Functional, Project, Matrix

Access to information about regional markets

Availability of technical expertise Location of manufacturing facilities and

suppliers Cost saving through lower wages Outsourcing to increase product

development capacity Warning – no shortcuts, no magic solution

Distributed Product Development Teams – Virtual Teams