3: Product Development Processes

Question 1

What are the parts to project management and execution?

Answer 1

1a. Technology assessment and forecasting
1b. Market assessment and forecasting
2. Development goals and objectives
3. Aggregate project plan
4. Project management and execution
5. Post project learning and improvement
This is also dependent on an organizations techonlogy and market strategy. (See: https://imgur.com/a/oLhU2MH)

Question 2

What four buckets can a companies resources be devided into?

Answer 2

K: Knowledge building
D: Development
P: Product care
L: Work in line organisation

Bucket distribution set by management, and followed up by time reporting.

Question 3

What parts make up the development funnel?

Answer 3

1: Investigations
2: Development
3: Shipping products
(See: https://imgur.com/a/pUCqlBv)

Question 4

What are some challanges to the development funnel?

Answer 4

1: How to widen the mouth of the funnel
2: How to narrow the neck of the funnel
3: Manage the selected individual projects

Question 5

What are the essential parts of “the development framework”?

Answer 5

1: Project definition (scope, bounds and objectives)
2: Project organization and staffing
3: Project management and leadership (task management and checkpoints)
4: Problem solving, testing and prototyping
5: Senior management review and control
6: Real time/midcourse corrections

Question 6

What is a project?

Answer 6

1: Unique and temporary
2: Has a defined timeplan with a clear start and ending
3: Has specific goals to fulfill
4: Has a defined budget
5: Uses a cross functional team-based organisation

Question 7

When are projects used?

Answer 7

When there is:
1: An element of risk or uncertainty
2: High complexity
3: A need for temporary organization

Question 8

What parts are there in the product development process?

Answer 8

1: Idea selection
2: Concept generations
3: Screening
4: Preliminary design
5: Evaluation and improvements
6: Prototyping and final design

Question 9

What is the “stage-gate game plan”?

Answer 9

1: Views new product development as a process
2: Any process can be redeigned to be faster and more effective
3: Breaks this process into a series of stages or phases
4: Each stage is preceded by a gate
5: Gates = Decision points or GO/KILL points
6: Each gate “opens” or “closes” the road for the project to move to the next stage
7: Gates are the quality control check points in the process

Question 10

What is the common format/method for gates?

Answer 10

Inputs: A prescribed list of “deliverables” that the project leader must present to the gate
Criteria: A set of hurdles, criteria or questions that the project is judged on
Outputs: A decision to go/kill/hold/recycle with an approved action plan