Often, when the completion of a task or deliverable is needed, a meeting is a good way to establish mutual understanding of the way forward. With many resources working remote these days, effective meetings are taking on even greater importance. An effective meeting comprises the right mix of technical expertise, project management and project sponsorship. However,…

In a previous article, we compared and contrasted the definition of a requirement, with a ‘story’, which is used in agile/scrum. In that article, we stated: “requirements and stories establish a clear understanding of customer needs in the context of desired functionality”. What if we want to establish a clear understanding of a customer’s needs in the context…

A complex production process requires a mixture of leadership, governance and management. In this article, we’ll discuss a tiered meetings structure that can effectively enable this. Empowerment, escalation paths, accountability and responsibility are included as some key ingredients. We’ll start with the following diagram: Production Floor Team Meeting (Tier 1): the production supervisor (or manager) holds…

In reviewing several previous articles in this article series, it’s apparent there is much in common with product development, project management and process improvement. Let’s look at a brief list that considers a structured approach vs. unstructured While this list is pretty “high-level” it reveals the importance of project leadership, governance and management.  A structured approach…

Our previous article identified several forms of waste, specific to completing tasks, as detailed by the following table: Keep in mind, by focusing on tasks, this table assumes several things: a project selection process that ensures the project is valuable robust project requirements & planning project sponsorship and resources (team members) are made available Without…

Our previous article compared agile/scrum with lean/kaizen and revealed several similar fundamentals that helped make each methodology easier to understand. Since the objective of lean and agile is waste reduction, we also want to identify and eliminate various forms of waste. In order to do this, first let’s consider our objective to manufacture hardware product,…

Our previous article covered the benefits of comparing the DMAIC problem solving thought process with project management.  The key takeaway was DMAIC can be more effectively executed using “measure & plan” phase. Now let’s compare and contrast agile/scrum with lean/kaizen.  While agile is primarily used in software development, there are many valid comparisons.  By making this comparison,…

Our previous article covered the benefits of comparing waterfall with agile, emphasizing the benefit of planning the agile process and product backlog content.  In this article we’ll compare the Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control (DMAIC) thought process, with a project management thought process. DMAIC is a problem-solving thought process applies critical thinking to ensure robust…

Previous articles have covered a proposed waterfall product development phase/gate process.  This article will compare and contrast waterfall with Agile product development, especially with respect to the front-end of the process. Let’s start with a proposed waterfall product development phase/gate process.  (The process below implies a hardware product, however, it can be considered any waterfall process…

In Part 1 of this article series, we explored a simplified project management process using a phase/gate structure that enables a robust project planning and execution thought process.  Now let’s identify some deliverables within each of the phases. These deliverables would be required and reviewed at each of the gates.  Below is a brief description of each:…

Organizations often accumulate a list of desirable projects, however, may not have project management bandwidth to filter or manage them effectively. While project management is a respected discipline, the Project Management Institute Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) has swollen to several hundred pages.  This level of detail and complexity makes it difficult to absorb and apply…

From time-to-time, there are new ways of thinking or shortcuts to solving problems.  However, the tried-and-true Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control (DMAIC) thought process endures as a fundamentally robust problem-solving thought process. DMAIC must be properly applied to be effective, however.  In this article we’ll consider some important objectives within each DMAIC sub-process. First, let’s consider each sub-process as…

Tasks (or action items) are a fundamental building block of an ongoing work-effort or project schedule.  While we tend to think of completed actions as deliverables, a project schedule can also be considered a project deliverable….and the value of well-written task (within the schedule or otherwise) is often overlooked. Generally, a task begins with a verb (some…

When considering a business process improvement (or some other) initiative, we also want to communicate to motivate the right behaviors.  However, initiatives often seem to use buzzwords or use titles familiar to employees that have seen such initiatives come and go (the key word being “go”). A few common initiative titles include: Business Excellence (BusEx)…

In previous articles we covered design for six sigma and design for lean.  Now let’s take a look at Design for Assembly.  We’ll do this by following the Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) thought process, and add design for assembly (DFA) subtopics as follows: Recall the objective of DFSS/DFA is to model and improve design…

When it comes to ensuring a task or deliverable is accomplished, we often see the word “owner” used.  Perhaps surprisingly, there really is no true ‘owner’ of anything in the context of program or project management. We can begin explaining this with two adjectives:  responsible and accountable. Responsible is simply the person responsible for completing…

In this article series, we covered several topics in the area of product development and project management.  We will now begin to explore process improvement with the topic “Design for Lean”.  While design for lean may be a subtopic within product development, it helps us understand operational risks, operational costs, enables operational planning and process…

Previous articles have covered product development tools and methodologies such as lean product development, agile, design for six sigma, product life cycle (PLC) and project management processes. In this article, lets consider “the product” being developed any hardware product, software, IT system, service or new business process.  We’ll use the acronym “PSSBP” (Product, Service, Software, Business Process) as an…

In a previous article, we defined design for six sigma (DFSS) as a thought process focused on maximizing customer value and minimizing cost. More specifically, DFSS is used to reduce variability in product performance (thereby increasing value), using analytical models and our knowledge of manufacturing variability to enable specification limits on difficult-to-manufacture tolerances to be increased…

For the majority of organizations, long-term success is tied directly to the new product development process. Tomorrow’s revenue and growth are tightly bound to how successful you are at launching new products. Offering genuinely valuable, high quality products is, more than ever, the best way to capture market share.  Also, more investment up-front minimizes overall…

In this article, we’ll compare and contrast the definition of a requirement, with a ‘story’, which is used in agile/scrum. Both requirements and stories establish a clear understanding of customer needs in the context of desired functionality. The framework for each is somewhat different, however. Recall the definition of a requirement: …a requirement defines “what…

In this weeks article, we’ll explore how the three disciplines (product development, process improvement and project management) can enable change management. First, it’s worth reflecting on how these disciplines fit together.  Starting with product development our goal is to understand customer value, and to optimize the product (or service) by maximizing customer value and minimizing…

All projects or programs have a formal or informal resource management process, with the goal of completing projects on time, within budget and with good project quality. In order to meet this goal, the resource management objectives are: the quantity of estimated resources is accurate the resource role requirements are clear and precise the resources…

In a previous article we compared and contrasted the role & responsibility for a scrum master vs. project manager/core team leader (CTL/PM). In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the scrum product owner role and compare it with the product development team’s “opportunity champion”. So what is the scrum product owner and the corresponding agile/scrum process?  The product owner…

In a previous article, we explored agile product development with a focus on early product validation. There are additional key enablers from agile/scrum that can be borrowed and applied to any product development process, however. In this article, we’ll compare and contrast the role & responsibility for scrum masters vs. project managers/core team leaders. Let’s start…

Many companies pursue a product development strategy that provides a product (or service) which meets customer needs sooner (rather than later), and then makes adjustments after the product has been fielded. Pursuing this approach means accepting the associated risks.  What if a critical to quality or critical to reliability characteristic fails to meet customer needs?…

In my previous article, we reviewed the project approval committee, and emphasized approval to start projects and/or approve projects in-process. With any type of project oversight, presentations or project schedules are often reviewed. For a more lean project management approach it would help to consider reviewing the actual deliverables, including a mutual understanding of the “definition of…

A project approval committee can be an effective way to enable business decision-making and ensure projects are successful. Committees may be known as a project review or steering committee; however, consider the following (proposed) objectives as follows: Approve new projects (and project resources) Approve project phase (phase gate) completion Approve project go-forward plans (including resources)…

In my last article, we reviewed a proposed Product Life Cycle process, which starts with a “Define” phase.  In the “Define” phase, we are defining the project as well as the product. We previously discussed the ‘technical leg’ of this process with the market analysis, identifying customer needs, product requirements, verification and validation, etc. Meanwhile, the…

In my previous article we covered the advantages of a phase and gate structure for new product development.  Now we can discuss some proposed phase names for a new product development or product life cycle (PLC) process. An organization may have an existing PLC process ‘baked-in’ to their culture and process documentation.  Accordingly, there’s a wide range…

In previous articles we defined an element of lean as a phase and gate structure for new product development.  This assumes a waterfall approach to the project (versus agile product development). A new product life cycle phase gate structure might entail, for example: “Definition, Concept, Design, Verification, Qualification, Production and End-of-Life”.  (Your organization might decide…

My last article covered a scalable model for lean product development depending on the number of projects and technical objectives. Let’s start with the foundational elements from this model: Facilitate a lean project Understand customer needs (requirements validation and/or agile product development) Maximize customer (product) value (product value estimation) A core team leader / project manager partnership…

In my previous article we established the lean product development goal statement as: Develop products that maximize customer value and minimize product cost, in the least amount of time, and at the least amount of product development cost. We then derived high-level objectives as follows: Better understand the customer (maximize customer value) Do the right projects (product, project and portfolio…

In my previous article, we established some high-level objectives for lean product development as follows: Better understand the customer (maximize customer value) Do the right projects (product, project and portfolio value analysis) Do projects right (minimize waste and rework) Level load the organization (minimize bottlenecks and resource constraints) Create and re-use artifacts (standardize and sustain best practices) These might be considered…

In my last article the high level goal of lean product development was established as follows: Develop products that maximize customer value and minimize product cost,  in the least amount of time, and at the least amount of product development cost. Let’s analyze this goal statement and establish some high-level objectives. Customer Value – understand customer value, and…

Lean product development might mean different things to different organizations, but let’s start with the 5 principles of lean manufacturing and see how it can be applied to the product development process. Manufacturing Value Stream 1. Specify value 2. Identify the value stream 3. Establish flow 4. Make value flow at the  pull of the customer…

One of several reasons for emphasizing product requirements includes enabling modeling and simulations of designs, as well as ensuring adequate verification and validation testing. Recall the fundamental framing of a requirement as: “What shall the design provide (output) @ input conditions?” “What does design need (inputs) from the customer in order for the design to…

While previous articles focused on requirements writing, another element of products requirements is design constraints. A design constraint might not be a requirement in the purest sense, but must be accommodated in product requirements (and, ideally, identified as such).  Design constraints almost always make their way into product requirements. Let’s use a simple example whereby…

Managing requirements for complex systems can be challenging, however, establishing a hierarchical framework of key questions (answered at each layer of the hierarchy) can be quite helpful. While some regulatory authorities (such as the FAA) may require various layers of documentation and traceability, this article isn’t necessarily advocating a bureaucratic development process.  The process can be…

In this article we’ll explore the topic of requirements, and attitudes about identifying requirements before the design work begins. In my experience, I’ve had design resources literally state “I hope there are no requirements”.  (Unconstrained design and no requirements certainly made this designer’s job much easier.) There are several other reasons requirements are sometimes neglected:…

In recent articles I focused on a ‘linear’ approach to product development by understanding customer needs, establishing requirements (“what the design provides”), establishing a conceptual design, etc. In this article, I’ll discuss a framework whereby an idea for a product or design might kick-off the process. Also, rather than a commercialized product, we will assume…

Significant savings in product development costs can be realized with robust validation processes, starting with requirements validation.  Validation confirms the product meets customer needs for the products intended use, and answers the question “are we designing the right product?” The “right product” therefore starts with the “right” product requirements.  Even a product designed with detailed…

Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is an excellent tool to ensure linkage of customer needs to product requirements.  This article will provide a high-level overview on creating a ‘first-level’ QFD and how it can be used to guide design optimization. (There are many additional features of QFD , however, and readers of this article are encouraged…

In recent articles I framed the structure of a market analysis to ensure we understand customer needs and value, product requirements are “the what” the design provides (to ensure customer needs are met); the design is “the how” the product requirements will be met. Product requirements are determined by answering the following question:  “What shall the (product) design provide…

Wouldn’t it be great if we could require the stock market to provide us 15% increases in our portfolio every year…or if we could simply require a sunny day for a picnic? You might be familiar with the term ‘market requirements’ or a ‘market requirements document’ as a deliverable in the definition phase of a…

Use an Integrated Approach in the Product Life Cycle Process to Enable Customer Value Given our primary goal of developing a profitable product, our objective in the design process is to maximize customer value and minimize cost.  From a financial analysis standpoint: we pursue products with the highest possible margins (ie. charge the customer “as…

Clear roles and responsibilities for project managers and team leaders can significantly improve alignment of skillsets and overall teamwork A generally accepted principle for a successful business is great people, processes & products. This can be further simplified as “maximizing customer value and minimizing cost” of the product. Consider the following: An excellent product development process should ensure…