PDMA Connections - Member News

As anyone working in innovation knows, innovation is inherently risky. Risk involves technology development, market acceptance, and financial investment. Any new product, service, or program can fail to meet design or profit objectives. By managing uncertainties within the innovation process, commercialized products of higher success rates leading to greater customer satisfaction and improved return on investment.

Success of product development efforts is correlated to the effective implementation of a quality new product development (NPD) process. Companies that have fully integrated project management systems for converting ideas to commercial offerings have a success rate of greater than 80% (Markham & Lee, 2013). Firms without a structured innovation process realize success in product development about half the time. So, how do you improve your odds of innovation success?

NPD Processes Manage Innovation Risk

Regardless of whether you use a traditional phased-and-gated system, newer Agile methodologies, or an emerging hybrid process, implementing an effective NPD process helps to manage investment risk. Product, technology, and market uncertainty are highest at the earliest stages of innovation. By conducting consecutive small tests with low cost, innovation teams gather information and knowledge. Each subsequent phase of work builds on this information to address more uncertainties within the product development scope. Thus, a product development effort telescopes to a product definition which is more focused than in the prithatase.

Reviews at each phase determine if uncertainty is low enough to proceed within the constraints of profit expectations, capital availability, and resource restraints. As investment costs increase, learning and knowledge also increase, risk decreases, and the product definition improves. This is illustrated in the following figure showing conventional NPD phases on the x-axis, cumulative cost and risk on the left access, and learning/information on the right axis.

Some NPD Processes

Depending on the product line, industry, and culture of your company, you may choose a different NPD project management system. In the workshop on 17 and 24 June, we will discuss several conventional NPD processes, Agile applications, and emerging hybrid methodologies. No single process is right for all organizations nor will any NPD process guarantee market success. Some of the most common NPD processes include:

Cooper’s Stage-Gate™
PMI® project management methodology,
Systems engineering,
Scrum (an Agile methodology),
Lean product development, and
Wagile.

Next Steps

CPAS studies demonstrate that organizations which continually refresh their NPD processes have the highest rates of innovation success. Even small steps - such as integrating a new tool or template into your process - can improve efficiency and effectiveness for new product development. Revisiting and streamlining your NPD process (conventional, Agile, or hybrid) gives you a competitive advantage! Register now for the two-part NPD process workshop sponsored by PDMA and presented by Global NP Solutions.

Bibliography

Markham, S. K., & Lee, H. (2013). Product Development and Management Association's 2012 Comparative Performance Assessment Study. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 30(3), 408-429.

June 17 & 24, 2021
8:30 AM – 12:00 PM (U.S. Eastern/GMT -5:00)

Innovation is one part art, one part science, and one part luck. Innovation is risky and all companies have a real chance of failure.

We can improve our odds of successful new product development (NPD) by providing a systematic decision-making framework. NPD processes help product and innovation managers move through the design and development minefield with frameworks to convert ideas to marketable products and services.

This session includes an overview of the most common NPD processes deployed in industry today, including waterfall, Agile, and emerging hybrid tools.

>> Register Here

We are pleased to share the re-launch of our Knowledge Hub (kHUB) with a fresh and streamlined look! This product and innovation centric platform demonstrates our thought leadership in a way that showcases PDMA’s expertise and impact for innovators and product development professionals throughout their careers. This platform is a natural extension of PDMA’s Body of Knowledge and is thus organized by the corresponding seven focused knowledge areas. Thanks to your feedback in our user survey that was distributed last summer, we have implemented the following changes to improve our website.

We continue to introduce new tools and tips on how to stay engaged to enhance your experience. See what we’ve improved, share comments and discussions, and get engaged today!

We have divided our discussions into separate categories (Topic Communities) so you can subscribe to the topics that most suit your interest. Topic areas are divided by the seven PDMA Body of Knowledge areas:

Strategy
Portfolio Management
Product Innovation Process
Product Design and Development Tools
Market Research in Product Innovation
Culture, Teams and Leadership
Product Innovation Management

Local Chapter Content: It’s been a busy few weeks for PDMA’s local chapters. We post the recordings and presentations from the local events on kHUB’s Local Chapter Content - on Demand for you to access and view at your convenience.

BoK Chapter Insights: The seven kHUB content editors regularly write a short Viewpoint Blog related to the BoK chapter they’re responsible to curate. Recently Rajeshwari Krishnamurthy shared her insights on Product Innovation Process (Chapter 3) with “Checklist for Good Design”, Carlos Rodriguez shared his insights on Product Design and Development Tools (Chapter 4) with “Ideation Techniques: Conceptualizing New Products and Services” , and Ahmed Ragab shared his insights on Product Innovation Management (Chapter 7) with “If you don’t know Who is the CAPTAIN, then expect a Titanic!”

New Innovation Podcasts and Blogs: We’ve linked a few more Innovation blogs to kHUB. Check out all of our linked blogs and podcasts series here . Please especially note those we’ve recently added: Lego Ventures, The Innovo Group, and Product Ventures Pulse.

PDMA’s kHUB is an evolving collaborative tool that facilitates the creation and exchange of product management and development knowledge and best practices. kHUB is quite honestly the “hub”, that provides the basis for individual professional development and for organizational innovation, leading to a competitive edge.

The GSIC is a competition organized by the Product Development and Management Association to showcase student entrepreneurs in their quest of putting theories and concepts into practice.

Student teams that develop original concepts for a product, service, software, or a combination of the three, submit details about their business model, solution concept, and unique value proposition. Students are welcome to expand on academic work for their theses or capstone projects as the basis of their entry.

Finalist teams may be paired with industry mentors through PDMA. Finalist teams are encouraged to present their concepts, prototypes and mockups at PDMA’s Annual Competitive Edge Conference. The presentation portion provides students the opportunity to demonstrate their product development skills to an audience of industry practitioners, service providers and academics in innovation, product management and product development.

Please visit the website PDMA Global Student Innovation Challenge for details on key dates, eligibility, rewards, and other pertinent information.

We thank all our great chapter leaders around the globe for the amazing work done this past year during a time when networking and problem-solving within the PDMA community was needed. Thank you to all the leaders who have helped the local communities of PDMA with resources, community connections, and overall just being there for one another in a difficult time.

Thank your chapter leaders today: https://www.pdma.org/page/PDMA_chapters

No chapter in your area and interested in developing one? contact aalimohd@pdma.org

PDMA is growing! Meet and connect with our new members by signing into the PDMA community on our website.

PDMA welcomed these new members in April 2021. We look forward to working with you!

Academic Member

Yustin Nurwulandari
Ana Disla

Professional Members

Narayan Tyagarajan
Cherie Wright
Kimberly Schaeffer
David Ombres
Jack Teagle
Ryan McGee
Ziyad Nazem
Kelly Walton
Shaun M. Simms
Glenn Pride
Navyasree Rajoli
PrzemysÅ‚aw Niewiadomski
Douglas Lundstrom
YuSiang Jhang
Wei-Ting Hsu
Jason Diesman
Jana Axline
Brian Goedken
PEI YI HSU
David Deepak
ShihChieh Chen
Kai Goellner
Gareth Lauchlan
Benjamin Smith
Thanasate Chaisuriyapattana
Jennifer Kaminski
EMILY EVANS
Amanda Bramblett
Robert Standefer

Student Members

David Chukwuma
Iglika Kassabova
Patrick Waltz

Team Member

Lauren Weigel