8
Habits
of
a
Highly Successful New Product Organization
 What
you are about to read is an ideal view of a new product development
organization, one that produces at a level that is easily envied by
others. The fact that it's ideal should not immediately allow it to be
dismissed as unattainable, although that is likely the initial instinct
due to an anti-change predisposition. The attributes of a high
efficiency organization described here is very much a possibility, but
only where the knee jerk reaction to dismiss it is suppressed long
enough to learn from these habits.
Learning
 Highly
successful NPD business have the capacity to learn from previous
product development efforts and apply that learning, knowing that this
is crucial for the organizations long-term health. As a learning
organization they realize knowledge growth has not occurred simply
because they held a lessons learned or post mortem session. They know
the learning process is about proactively discovering barriers and then
creating and tracking actions to remove those obstacles. If learning
was successful they recognize that something must change.
Listening
The
people doing the work on the frontline have much to offer in terms of
execution efficiency and a successful new product development machine
will leverage this fact; they promote continuous listening for core
issues. People clearly know they have a voice and solutions will
percolate up from the bottom, not be legislated from the top down.
Listening is the culture, and everyone believes this.
Evolving
 Change
is the mantra and perfection is the target. Lean concepts permeate the
organization and everyone is energized to make product development
efforts better today than they were yesterday. Ego related stances are
non-existent; personally being right is far less important than doing
the right thing for the business. Cross-functional collaboration is
routinely practiced as the primary means of improving new product
execution. Change is expected.
Clarity
Objectives
are
clear
and
everyone
knows exactly how they will contribute to the
success of the product. A process is in place to manage all levels of
requirements, minimizing any waiting for decisions and/or answers while
supporting the essential agile component in meeting the customer
changing needs. Specific requirements items are phased in a way that
allows the team to move forward with what is known, while longer lead
items have the appropriate focus to reach solid closure. A proper level
of clarity within the development team is displayed through a lack of
unnecessary rework.
Personal
People
enjoy
their
jobs
and
have a passion for making things better. They have
a mechanism in place that allows them the freedom to speak and be
heard. Management views their inputs as an essential ingredient to
producing a more efficient organization. Lean concepts are the
lifeblood of the culture.
Decisiveness
Decisions
are
well
informed,
quick,
crisp and well communicated. No one is left
wondering how to proceed. Where additional information is needed,
actions are put into place to drive and track timely data gathering
activities. Unsatisfactory decisions are viewed as learning
opportunities and are analyzed for future improvements to the
development process.
Planning
Planning
is
thorough,
involving
everyone
who will be contributing to the
project. Milestones are communicated to the degree that anyone randomly
selected will be able to properly provide target dates when asked.
Owners of tasks also have the information immediately available to them
for completion timing and specific deliverable expectations. Projects
are successfully meeting ALL milestones at a 90% level.
Product
Launches
The
product roadmap is an evolving plan based on current trends, customers,
technology development and market intelligence. A product launch
commitment is based on solid resource availability, solid revenue
projections, sales force engagement, customer engagement and NPD team
commitment. New products are meeting business case revenue and margin
projections at the 90% level.
Development
of
these
eight
habits
in your organization is well within reach, given
a willingness to invest in change. However, do not be fooled into
believing it's a part time effort. It is work, it will cost and the
payoff will far exceed any expense when implemented properly. Go
forth
and
change!
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