High Performance CoDevelopment Teams - your competitive advantage in the world of Open Innovation

92 Crescent Street | Waltham, MA 02453 USA | Tel: 781-891-8080 | Fax: 781-398-1889 | www.CoDevPD.org

Presented by:

Scott Elliott & Jeanne Bradford, PrincipalsTCGen, Inc.

Managing High Performance Co-Development Teams

CoDev2014 2January 27, 2014

By the end of the session, you will be able to…..

• Assemble a high-performance co-development team, with clearly defined roles and deliverables

• Navigate different process, language & cultural issues across multiple companies • Evaluate and monitor development partner’s capabilities• Define the project management style, process and check-in points for the team• Keep the project within bounds, or respond rapidly when it is out• Eliminate political roadblocks that throw teams off-track


Agenda

1. Introductions2. Building High-Performance Co-Development Teams

• Graphical Tools for Building a High Performance Team Break out 1: Identifying & resolving issues across development partners

• Graphical Tools for Managing the Team Break out 2: Construct an Attitude Influence Diagram

3. Extended Teams and Innovation: • Crowdsourcing & Gamification• Social Innovation Best Practices

4. Time for Action Break out 3: Creating an Action Plan

This is an interactive session!


• Architected & implemented the Apple New Product Process (ANPP) which is used by all Apple product divisions

• Co-Author, Innovate Products Faster• Co-founder, TCGen, Inc.• Consulted to leading companies including Cisco, Dolby,

Amazon and Hitachi

Instructor BiographiesExperience with Innovation & Execution

• Invented Surface Transverse Wave Resonator and High-Speed Optical Photodiodes

• Former Operations Manager for the HP/Agilent Microwave Technology Center

• Led HP/Agilent Management Consulting arm and HP Consulting Global Supply Chain Practice

• Founded and led TechZecs LLC• Consulted to leading companies including HP, NI, Keithley Instruments,

SGI, Agilent, and Verigy

Jeanne Bradford

Scott Elliott


Introductions

• Introduce yourself!• What are 2-3 things you’d like to get out of the workshop today


High Performance TeamsInnovation & speed are lost or gained everyday at the team-level

• Key elements– Well defined roles & responsibilities for team and management– Core-team model customized for each project– Empower the team with a high level of authority– Instill a culture of trust and collaboration

• Conditions for success– Top management supports team autonomy– Middle management supports cross functional approach– Team members trained an adopt core team model

This is challenging within a company, and even more so across multiple development partners!


Co-Development: “Just Right” Processes

Growing organizations that need to scale

quickly

“Just Right” processes: the least amount of process, and not a bit less

Large organizations choking on

bureaucracy

But what happens when you and your development partners have a different definition of “just right”?


Team Collisions: Language, Culture, Decisions

• Often within a company, product teams don’t use the same language or decision-making processes – let alone across companies.

• Team members learn to work within their own cultures.• All of these elements get amplified when working across companies.• Time is gained or lost everyday at the team level.

So how do you apply light-weight, “just right” processes that help you navigate in the complex world of co-development?


Graphical Tools for Building High Performance Teams

PROJECT TEAM WHEEL FUNCTION PHASE MATRIX

ATTITUDE INFLUENCE DIAGRAM

PINCH POINT DIAGRAM

TeamLeadership

Politics

Who’s Doing What

Decisions


Graphical Tools for Managing High Performance Teams

BOUNDARY CONDITION DIAGRAM

PARTNER PERFORMANCE RADAR CHART

PROJECT CHECK-IN TOOL

Focus Capability

Agility


Project Team WheelIdentifying Project Team Leadership (and gaps)

What is a Team Wheel?• A graphical snapshot of team leadership, critical functions of the project, and the specific individuals

responsible for each function.• The concentric circles of the wheel differentiate between the project manager, the core team, and the

extended team.• This tool provides a powerful picture of gaps in staffing and can drive decision-making to mitigate the

risks and avoid project disruption and delays.

Which Business Problems Does the Tool Solve? • Illustrates any lack of adequate resources that is often at the root of project failures.• This tool quickly identifies risk areas so they can be addressed before significantly impacting the

team's schedule. • Reinforces product allegiance over functional allegiance.

Benefits: • Helps to ensure that team members are available for your project• Visually identifies resource gaps on a team• Describes the extended team functions that a core team member represents• Minimizes surprises (or project failure) attributed to not having the right resources in place


Project Team WheelIdentifying project team leadership (and gaps)

Project Manager

Functional Leads

Extended Team


Project Team Wheel

How to Apply the Tool: • Step 1: The project manager creates an initial draft of the wheel by populating three concentric

circles with the project team resources.– The innermost circle contains the project manager's name and title– The next circle is populated with titles and names of 4 to 10 core team functions that are vital for getting

the product to market.

– The outermost circle identifies the extended team that will supplement the core team. (More appropriate for mid- sized and larger projects.)

• Step 2: The project manager reviews this diagram with the core team and ensure they support their roles on the project and agree to represent their associated members on the extended team.

• Step 3: The project manager reviews this wheel with the management team to ensure they agree with the structure and are ready to support the project with the people and functions you need.

Create a Team Wheel for each project team


• What is the tool? – The Function Phase Matrix is a table organized by key functions (rows) and

project phases (columns), indicating the activities that require completion during that phase.

• Which Business Problems Does the Tool Solve?– Clarifies roles & responsibilities – within your team & your partner’s team– Identifies gaps/overlap– Eliminates avoidable setbacks & increases the effectiveness of a project

team • Benefits

– Ensures that you have cross-functional alignment at the phase/milestone level

– Ensures you have all key deliverables assigned to individuals– Is a scalable tool you can apply to large or small teams, simple or complex

projects, and local or globally dispersed teams– Helps you align your team with product and delivery expectations when

you use it in management reviews

Function Phase MatrixWho’s Doing What, When


Function Phase Matrix



How to Apply the Tool: • Step 1: Rows represent key functions. Columns represent project phases • Step 2: Identify roles and responsibilities of team members. • Step 3: Identify and assign expected deliverables. • Step 4: Identify potential gaps and overlaps.


Partner Performance Radar ChartEvaluating Partner Strengths & Weaknesses

What is the tool? – A radar chart used for partner selection and management – Evaluates partner technologies, quality, responsiveness, delivery, cost &

environment– Scoring identifies partner’s strengths and weaknesses– Multiple partners can be assessed for comparison purposes

Which Business Problems Does the Tool Solve?– Provides a consolidated view of partner capabilities– Provides a consistent evaluation across multiple partners– A vehicle for making trade-off decisions– Logically dividing the roles and responsibilities in partner management

Benefits– Provides a common language across multiple organizations/companies– Quantifies partner/supplier performance– De-emotionalizes partner/supplier reviews– Partners/suppliers know what improvement is requireD.


Partner Performance Radar Chart

How to Apply the Tool• Assign a person or team to each axis (one team my have multiple axes)• Agree on scoring criteria (e.g. 0 = no concept; 3= average practitioner; 5= recognized

leader)• Connect the dots & evaluate most critical areas.• Create an action plan to manage partner

Preferred

Acceptable

Unacceptable

Technology Quality

Responsiveness

DeliveryCost

Environment


Break out Session Objective:• Identify misalignments with your development partners functions or phases• Identify 2-3 areas for immediate attention to resolve

Break Out 1: Clarifying Project Teams Alignment

Project Team Wheel

Partner Performance Radar Chart



Pinch Point DiagramDriving Critical Decisions

What is the tool? • A process flow diagram that identifies where decisions are

required.• Identifies ownership for process elements and decisions.

Which Business Problems Does the Tool Solve?• Provides clarity of key steps within a process• Provides an early warning for key decision points.• Identifies unclear roles & responsibilities that impede decision

making.

Benefits• Identifies unique escalation paths for tough cases• Speeds decision making• Improves the process flow• Faster and more efficient product development


Pinch Points – Using the Tool

1. Team Formed Requirements

Scoped

2. Define overall Scope & Skillsets

Needed

4. Define internal and

External Resources Required

3. Identify Leads

Concept Team: Lead by Program

Manager

5. Resource Plan Finalized

Example: Resource planning for a co-development project

• Gather the key team members for a working session

• Map a simplified process• Add responsible person or team to each sub-

process


Pinch Points – Resource Allocation Decisions

1. Team Formed Requirements

Scoped

2. Define overall Scope & Skillsets

Needed

4. Define internal and

External Resources Required

Resources Thrust on

Team

3. Identify Leads

Concept Team: Lead by Program

Manager

5. Resource Plan Finalized

Escalation Path?

Resource Under-

Estimation

Unplanned Features

Partner Resource Under-

estimation

• Discuss problem cases• Abstract as “Pinch Point”

Bubbles• Decide with team what the

“should be” process is in each case

• Decide on Escalation Paths*• Redraw the “Should Be”

process• Get approval for the new

process and communicate it

*Best practice: Try for a single Escalation Path


What is the Tool? A set of boundaries that are critical for project success

Chart consists of lines representing the boundaries of acceptability. Core Project Team can execute without management intervention

unless a boundary is broken. If the trajectory violates a boundary, the Project Manager calls and Out-Of-Bounds meeting.

Which Business Problems Does the Tool Solve? Helps define the project expectations. Eliminates any delay in rectifying a project that is not meeting its goals.

Benefits Accelerates Innovation by ensuring alignment and focus on the critical elements of the

project Provides a clear distinction of “must have” elements Allows more autonomy for the team by creating a contract with management Helps make trade-off decisions at the beginning Provides a framework in which to quickly re-align the project if needed

Project Boundary ConditionsE

XE

CU

TIO

N: M

AN

AG

ING

YO

UR

TE

AM

AN

D M

EE

TIN

GS

Keeping the Project On Track


EX

EC

UT

ION

: MA

NA

GIN

G Y

OU

R T

EA

M A

ND

ME

ET

ING

SSample Project Boundary Conditions

How to Apply the Tool: • Number of key boundary areas determine the shape of the diagram.• Identify 3-5 key elements of your project.• Assign each element to a side of the diagram.• For each element, state the specific boundary thresholds. • Place specific details to define the conditions in boxes next to each boundary.

Project Cost$3.5M max

Product Cost$45 max BOM

Quality4 yr. MTBF

Features200mW powerWorks with Android, iOS

ScheduleLaunch Oct 1, 2014


EXAMPLE OF BOUNDARY BREAK TRAJECTORY

Approaching Boundary BreakTeam lost key engineer 3 week delay to replace

Call OOB Meeting!

ScheduleLaunch Oct 1, 2014

Features200mW power

Works with Android, iOS

Project Cost$3.5M max

Product Cost$45 max BOM

Quality4 yr. MTBF

Quality approaching minimum

acceptable, but looks to be OK

BOM cost improving


What is the tool?• The flow diagram can be used to realign teams when a project has gone out of scope.• The tool provides a mechanism to quickly conduct a root cause analysis, evaluate alternatives, and

recommend remedies.• If a team has crossed boundary conditions, the tool can help course correct and realign to a new

plan. Which Business Problems Does the Tool Solve?• Is an effective recovery vehicle when projects run into trouble.• Creates a common language and mechanism to quickly align project and management teams when

a project changes significantly.• Eliminates wasted time trying to create an exception-handling process each time a deviation

occurs. Benefits• Helps you realign projects within hours/days, not days/weeks• Empowers the team to move forward with minimal guidance once management establishes

boundary conditions• Minimizes team confusion by establishing a single agreed-upon communication vehicle• Engages the team because of the greater trust that management places in them project manager.

Out of Bounds Process


Get the team back on track – Quickly!

How to Apply the Tool: Identify the root cause of the broken boundary. Make recommendations for resolving the issue Only 1 of 3 outcomes should come from Management Meeting:

1. Reset the boundary2. Add resources or time to be able to make the boundary3. Cancel the project

“Just do your best” is not acceptable

This process should be completed in hour or days – not weeks

Potential OOB

Situation Identified

PMAgree?

Assemble Team to Review

TeamAgree?

ID Root Cause & Develop

Alternatives

Meet with Management

Propose Alternatives

Mgmt.Agree?

CommenceAlternativeBoundaries

Continue and monitor

Boundaries

YesOOB

NoOOB

NoOOB

YesOOB

No

Yes


Project Check-Ins


What Is the Tool? • Replace formal Project Checkpoints with

informal “Check-ins”• Just check adherence to Boundary

ConditionsWhich Business Problems Does the Tool Solve?• Saves time spent in preparing review slides• Frees resources for innovation

Benefits• Encourages innovation by empowering the team • Increases motivation due to the trust placed in the team • Facilitates speed since the team is empowered to make decisions • Keeps the team focused on the core value propositions • Is a repeatable lightweight process


Project Check-Ins


How to Apply the Tool• Set the Boundary Conditions – team and management agree• Team empowered to make decisions within the boundaries• Periodic, informal “Check-In” meetings defined – minimal management, no formal

slides. Low number of Check-Ins.• Out-of-Bounds conditions held in a different meeting


Attitude Influence Diagram

What is the tool? • A tool to identify your projects key supports and detractors• A scatter plot diagram that shows the relative influence and attitudes of the key staff

members who will be involved • A subjective assessment, but very powerful tool to quickly identify those who might

block your project• Applied early in the process, this tool will provide you with the opportunity to

proactively manage detractors to ensure their concerns are addressed – and sometimes converted to supporters

Which Business Problems Does the Tool Solve?• Resistance and politics can slow teams down• This graphical technique pinpoints people and their position so that you can use your

time wisely

Benefits• Provides a new methodology for accelerating decisions• Identifies supporters and detractors that will impact your probability of success• Helps you avoid mistakes in the implementation process• Creates a framework for managing proactive discussions and positive influence

Eliminating Political Roadblocks


Attitude Influence Diagram

How to Apply the Tool:Step 1: Generate a list of those who might impact your program. Step 2: Identify the most positive and most negative and plot them against the two axes.Step 3: Then as you populate the chart, you can gauge comparisons against the two extremes. Note: the size of the bubble indicates the difficulty of influencing their position. Step 4: Look at the quadrant of high influence and negative attitude to focus your efforts and work on those individuals who are most likely to threaten your success.


Attitude Influence DiagramEliminating Political Roadblocks

Focus efforts here to move detractors to supporters


Break Out 2: Attitude Influence Diagram

Break out Session Objective:• Identify a project you’re working on that it at political risk• Apply the AI tools to identify key detractors• Develop 2-3 actions to move detractors to supporters


Extended Teams & Innovation

• Innovation - Extending a development team• Crowd Sourcing + Gamification

• Social Innovation Best Practices1. Time-Bound Innovation2. Dedicated Innovation Teams3. Understanding Customer’s Environment of Use


Crowdsourcing: finding the right team

Crowdsourcing is the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people, and especially from an online community, rather than from traditional employees or suppliers.

• “We is smarter that Me”• Crowd, not Riot• Not everyone has a qualified voice!• Vibrancy and focus will make or break it

*Wikipedia


Gamification: engaging the team

Gamification: the use of game thinking & game mechanics in non-game contexts to engage user in solving problems*

Gamification & Product Development: provides a mechanism for disperse teams to collaborate and prioritize product features and technical solutions• Innovation Tournaments• Innovation Challenges

*Wikipedia


Social Innovation

• There is an increasing trend to apply social technology platforms to address the complexity and challenge of product development.

• Joined by Santa Clara University Professors who shared our interest and passion, we performed a multi-client benchmark study, and simultaneously launched research on this emerging topic.

• Who is leading the charge and what have they learned?• Identified 10 best practices of applying these emerging technologies


1. Innovation can be time-bound. 2. Targeted application of social media methodologies can result in faster time to

market and lower cost by reducing product definition expense.3. The quantity of data from customer/community is not a substitute for quality

input. 4. There is no need for investment in home-grown social media tools. 5. Two types of resources: dedicated resources to help accelerate; part time resources

that have social media experience. 6. Bridging generations: younger members of the workforce typically have greater

social media competencies; older workers tend to be the decision makers.7. Executive sponsorship is not required to deploy social media for product

development, but you can get a lot more done with it.8. The most effective communities have: small number of closed and managed

communities, are time bounded, and contain user generated content.

Social Innovation Best Practices


The IBM Jam accelerates innovation & consensus by combining an optimized process for innovation with technology to help with communication, filtering, and idea enhancement• The live Jam duration is typically one week but can be as short as 72 hours• Real time data analysis tools scan forum comments to identify hot topics and emerging themes• Lack of anonymity ensures that feedback remains constructive, even if critical

Quickly increase the front end of the innovation process by reaching out to relevant community voices• Transcend culture, generation, language, and geographic challenges to harness collective brainpower for a

given problem or challenge• Use online, virtual collaboration to drive increased real world collaboration across the enterprise

Quickly harnessed innovation on new problems with large, distributed organizations• Within seventy two hours hundreds of ideas can be generated• Technology provided the ability to draw upon experts repeatedly because the responses are traceable• The Jam process yielded prioritized and manageable solutions with a direct line of sight from idea to execution

Time Bounded Innovation CommunityIBM Jams

Social Media isn’t limited to ongoing communities - well defined sessions & qualified participants can be leveraged effectively as a time bounded, high impact initiative.

ProjectInitiation Live Event

Jam preparation: marketing, training/recruitment, site preparation

Post-Jam Analysis and Implementation

ActionReport

Practice

Goal

Result


Rapid Idea Generation & Dedicated Team

Use out-of-box platforms to quickly harness innovation on new problems within large, distributed organizations• Leading platform allowed this study participant to quickly construct campaigns and helped them to gather

ideas from employees• The platform also has mechanisms of voting and collaboration, so participants can put concepts out there

and employees can contribute to them, and then re-vote on the enhanced ideas

There is an urgent need for larger companies to innovate, but their size often makes it more difficult. This study participant formed a small group to serve as an innovation management team. They work with all the various software and solutions business units on their specific innovation plans and objectives.• This team is a central group that helps put tools in place, create templates, and guide the teams.• An implementation strategy that allows the flexibility to customize the platform and to share data

across business units was instrumental to the success of this organization.

The dedicated innovation team was widely tapped to help accelerate operating businesses achieve their innovation goals.• Campaigns ramped up and were running in less than a week• In one case, a campaign generated 200-400 ideas in 2 weeks.• Response tracking within the platform gave teams the ability to draw upon experts repeatedly.• This platform is being used by divisions with upwards of several thousand people.

Practice

Goal

Results


Understanding the Customer’s Environment of Use

In designing a new cosmetic line, the company asked their target market (busy moms) to photograph and share their empty purses to help design the ideal “mobile” cosmetic solution• This company used a closed community, where they shared photographs and provided input on their

biggest challenges with using the product• The design team used these photographs to understand the environment of use• Photographic input is much richer than a survey, and is much more accurate because it does not rely on

memory• By sharing the photographs the moms can share experiences and provide a more meaningful context

for probing and further exploration

Increase number of products delivered and significantly accelerate time-to-market• This organization had a desire to increase revenue from new products• This technique was also able to reduce the cost of product definition since customer visitation was

done via the internet, not in person

Set new standard for production delivery - 12 new products in six months• Inclusion of the photographs from the focused target market enhanced contextual product definition

and allowed the company to realize that many cosmetic product could be included in one package• The process ‘virtualizes’ customer visitation, a best practice for product definition

Capturing specific environments of use allows your customers to make the highest value contributions

Practice

Goal

Results


Break out #3: Time for Action

• Break out session Objective:– Avoid “offsite amnesia” – applying what you learned.– Identify 2-3 tools that you can start applying with your

teams/partners.– For each tool, identify the next action

• What, with whom, by when