Posts by Rob Allen
Phase and Gate Structure for New Product Development
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…
Read MoreA Proposed Product Life Cycle Process
In our 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…
Read MoreStatement of Work Fundamentals
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…
Read MoreThe Project Approval Committee
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: With this approach, “approval” is more clearly the objective of the committee. The project approval committee (PAC) would…
Read MoreThe Definition of Done
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…
Read MoreAgile Requirements Discovery and Validation
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?…
Read MoreLessons from Scrum for Product Development Teams
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…
Read MoreLessons from Scrum for Opportunity Champions
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…
Read MoreProject Governance and Resource Management
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: Detailed project plans directly align deliverables and activities with the appropriate resource roles needed, within the constraints…
Read MoreThe Three Disciplines and Change Management
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…
Read More