Based on our research work with best-practice teams we’ve developed a 5-step voice-of-the-customer, or “VOC” process for aligning customer requirements with product requirements in order to determine what customers value most. The customer’s requirements are their “wants” and the product requirements are “how” you will fulfill those wants with your product or service.
Read MoreOverview of FTTM Planning steps and process methodology.
Read MoreConverting strategy to portfolio mix/priorities; It's the job description and competency "set" for an organization's CPO.
Read MoreThis is the FTTM Model we use with clients that have a portfolio of products in development. The driver is to accelerate “Time-To-Break-Even.” The fastest teams we’ve worked with measure success by quantifying the complete life-cycle of development from team formation to break-even.
Read MoreA macro plan is a high-level description of a project. About 50 activities or less that define the overall work that needs to be done to achieve an objective.
Read MoreSteven Wheelwright (HBS) described four types of product development team structures; 1) functional hierarchy, 2) lightweight, 3) heavyweight, and 4) autonomous. We’ve added speed and accountability to his model.
Read MoreHigh Performers… Rather than delay “pain,” they accelerate the threshold and force issues out early, rather than avoid them, delaying confrontation. They knew that when confronted early, they were afforded more time to fix the problems. This “early schedule” or before-the-fact behavior is a core characteristic of these high performers. We’ve also seen the concept extended to create corporate cultures that rewards before-the-fact action.
Read MoreIn the technology business, growth comes from new products that satisfy the customer. New product innovation is the key to growth, be it in mature segments when taking share from competitors or in growing markets where time-to-market is the driver. We work with clients to create a customer-focused culture to produce the right products at the right time.
Read MoreThis post explains our project planning and tracking process, which has evolved over a 20 year period and through our work on thousands of client projects. The foundation of this process is based on the best practices of fast teams, who we’ve been studying since the early 1990’s.
Read MoreCausing projects to finish on time, or even making them faster is the “back-end” of the new product execution system. Deciding what projects to do, and then aligning them with business strategy and available resources is the “front-end.”
Read MoreFast teams are organized for speed. We call it the Integrated Core Team. What they do is very different. This post outlines how they are organized and the freedom levels they operate within.
Read MoreRecently we were asked, “We're not a research company per se and need to benchmark how "think tanks" estimate innovation durations/cycles of learning that require major breakthroughs.”We assembled this document to stimulate group discussion (within the client’s various advanced development teams). It is not meant to draw conclusions or converge on any specific actions, just to get people thinking and talking. 
Read MoreThis is an overview of the FTTM System (fast-time-to-market) used by fast teams. It is based on best practice research developed by lateralworks.
Read MoreStages a team goes through while learning the Refresh Planning Process.
Read MoreIt seems counter intuitive. To make a project go faster when you don’t have to, because you are already on schedule. That is the point.
Read MoreMany projects we work on involve bleeding edge innovation. The most common push-back to planning these projects is that, “Innovation can’t be managed.” The proponents of this notion believe that, “Ideas happen when they happen, and that it is impossible to program these out over time with any reasonable degree of confidence.” Therefor, it is a “waste of time” to plan.
Read MoreOf course everyone knows it is impossible to plan when a breakthrough will happen. Planning requires some certainty about what is being done, how long each step might take, and some idea of when a solution will be achieved. But innovation is different. By definition innovation requires solutions to problems that don’t have known solutions, so how can one accurately predict when a solution will be found? How can the unknown be planned.
Read MoreWe have characterized a series of common skills over many years of coaching and working with high performers that successfully manage new product development projects. We outline these qualities below.
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