Is Intellectual Property killing #innovation

You only have to follow the News to find out who’s suing who in the Intellectual Property wars, Apple,  Samsung, Microsoft, Nokia – they’re all at it – but is the whole intellectual property industry an anachronism of the past ?

Most technical innovation takes place at such a rapid pace, & product life-cycles are so short,  by the time the dispute get’s to Court the product is obsolete.

Geography also plays its part with some countries immune to International legislation.

There is also a strong argument that resources currently deployed pursuing & defending IPR could be better & more effectively deployed in innovation itself.

What do you think ?

chris@projectsguru.co.uk

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project managers and business consultants

Candid Camera………….#pmot #innovation

1st digital camera

1st Digital Camera

The recent news that Eastman-Kodak had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy created much derision around the fact that Kodak invented the digital camera back in 1975 but failed to exploit this achievement.

Of course hindsight is a wonderful thing & perhaps we should consider that back in 1975 Kodak had 90% market share of the conventional film market & the vast expansion of digital technology was difficult if not impossible to predict. In 1975 only a handful of hobbyists had a computer at home & most of these were incapable of displaying a decent colour image.

Innovation isn’t easy. Companies have to decide very carefully what to invest in & can spend many millions backing the wrong “horse”

One way to make this process easier is to capture the “Voice of the Customer” by carrying out carefully worded customer surveys, engaging the customer in online conversations via Social Media, having effective call centers  & by analysing customer return data. All of these activities can help organisations predict market trends.

The closer the supplier can get to its customers the better the chance of  Innovation success.

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project managers and business consultants

Why YOU need a Project Manager #pmot

project managersSome organizations think they can run projects without a Project Manager

They believe that they can save money by having an engineer or administrator do the project managers tasks.

Here are some reasons why they are wrong:-

  • All projects need managing.
  • Project Management is a skilled profession which requires years of learning and development.
  • A professional Project Manager understands how a project should be structured to ensure success.
  • She will plan the project to minimize overall timescale.
  • He understands how to get “stuff” done.
  • A Project Manager makes team members life “easy” by scheduling activities & dealing with the politics & administration of the project.
  • He understand conflict resolution and mediation.

So what is the likely outcome of trying to manage projects on the “cheap” :-

  • The project will be structured poorly if at all.
  • The timeline will be extended extensively.
  • The inexperienced individual trying to manage the project will become completely overloaded & unable to cope with their own tasks.
  • Rather than being cheaper costs will escalate out of control.
  • Key deliverables will not be met.
  • Customers expectations will be compromised.
  • The business will be irreparably damaged.

If you really want to save yourself money hire the best project manager you can get.

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Lost opportunity cost…..#pmot…#in

Bizplan03

In the last post we discussed risk aversion. One of the pitfalls of being too risk averse is lost opportunity cost.

In New Product Development Project Managers constantly balance time to market with product quality, resource management, project costs & a host of other competing factors.

In an effort to develop the perfect product with maximum process capability and meeting 100% customer satisfaction the real cost of lost opportunity is often missed.

Consider a product which on release will generate, on average,  $100,000 profit a month for 12 months. If the product release is delayed by 1 month the lost opportunity cost can be estimated as $100,000. What should be  emphasised is that this amount will NEVER be recovered. If the product lifecycle is estimated as being 12 months depending on the competition then releasing the product 1 month late reduces the lifecycle to 11 months.

If that lost $100,000 was invested at a compound rate of 5% per year over ten years it would be worth $163,000 !

So here are some tips to minimize lost opportunity cost:-

1) Invest in the project at the front end, providing ample resource and support.

2) Fix the product spec before the end of the design phase.

3) 100% perfection is great but 95% is normally good enough for most customers.

4) Make it easy for engineers by setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Aggressive, Realistic, Timely) targets.

5) Publicise Project Milestone targets.

6) Communicate Lost Opportunity Costs.

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Are we too risk averse…?….#pmot #in

riskmanagementThis week one of the busiest Motorways in England was closed for 3 days because of a fire in a scrap yard adjoining the motorway. In the ensuing debate questions were raised about the need to prevent such a thing happening again, including closing all potential threats in sites adjoining Motorways.

This was the FIRST TIME THIS HAD HAPPENED IN 30 YEARS !!!

It got me thinking about our attitude to risk.

How much time do you spend in New Product Development assessing and mitigating against risk ?

How much delay is introduced in the project timeline for risk prevention ?

Perhaps we need to have a better balance between risk mitigation and opportunity enhancement.

What do you think ?

chris@projectsguru.co.uk

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“Dee eff emm eee aaay”…? #pmot #in

DFMEADFMEA or Design Failure Modes Effects Analysis is a Risk Management Tool which is widely used throughout the Automotive Industry.

DFMEA is a Team activity which is led by the Project Manager or Senior Design Engineer.

It involves using a set form & identifying the risks in the project.

Each Risk is called a Failure Mode. Each has an Effect. The Severity of this Effect is assigned a score where 10 is high impact & 1 low impact.

Each Failure Mode also has a Cause which is ranked according to its Occurrence or likelihood between 1 & 10.

Each Failure Mode also has a Current Control and its chance of detection is ranked 10 unlikely to 1 likely.

The product of Severity x Cause x Control gives us a Risk Priority Number or RPN which gives us a measure of the size of the problem and the urgency to address it.

Identifying a Recommended Action for each Failure Mode leads us to rescoring the Occurrence & Detection and subsequently reducing the RPN.

The key to success of DFMEA is not to get too hung up about the scores and to use it as intended, as a comparative tool for Risk Analysis.

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Nokia upwardly mobile….#pmot…#in

  • “We poured gasoline on our own burning platform. I believe we have lacked accountability and leadership to align and direct the company through these disruptive times. We had a series of misses. We haven’t been delivering innovation fast enough. We’re not collaborating internally. Nokia, our platform is burning.” – Stephen Elop, CEO Nokia.

nokiaThe recent internal memo “leaked” from Nokia & published on technology website Endgadget.com demonstrates the need for any corporation, but particularly those in the Technology arena, to have a continuous stream of new product developments flowing to the market. This is the direct result of a new product routemap which clearly identifies Customer needs, market trends and technology requirements.

New Product Development should not be a haphazard process but one which is planned years in advance. It should also be adaptable to allow flexibility in the case of new technological or market developments.

Not so long ago Nokia held pole position in the mobile phone market with huge market share. Now they are languishing behind Apple & others in the
Smartphone arena and are struggling to compete with Chinese manufacturers at the bottom end of the market.

However, all is not doom and gloom. The new CEO Stephen Elop obviously
recognises the problems and is keen to address them. This is the key important step in any recovery. Rather than just bury his head in the sand he is tackling the issues head on which is good news for Nokia empoyees and shareholders.

If you need help with your product development process get in touch NOW!

chris@projectsguru.co.uk

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10 tips for faster leaner new product development #in #pmot #lean

new-product-development

Bringing New Products to Market faster & more efficiently is even more critical as product life-cycles shrink so here are 10 tips for faster, leaner New Product Development:-

1) Nail the spec early – the sooner the product spec is finalised the smoother & faster the development will be. Less time & effort will be wasted debating the minutiae if the spec is closed early.

2) 5s the area – Apply the Lean principles of 5s (see earlier post) to remove unnecessary distraction and promote “clear thoughts”

3) Promote re-use in Design – to reduce design effort and make best use of proven and qualified technology.

4) Parallel Planning & Design – Design is normally the longest phase in New Product Development so why wait until the end of Planning to start Design. Start Design in parallel and adapt the plan when more is known about the length of the design phase.

5) Arrange Regular Reviews – during the Design phase and break the task into smaller “chunks”. Design is one of those tasks which has a tendency to expand to fill the time allowed for it.

6) Structure the Innovation process – ensure that Innovation board reviews are scheduled well in advance and board members have suitably qualified deputies so that stage gate reviews suffer no delays due to the absence of key personnel. The Innovation process should become Institutionalized.

7) Dedicated multifunctional Teams – are more effective than matrix teams  If resource allows.

8) Design for Manufacture – manufacturing & production engineers need to be involved in the product development process to ensure a smooth transition from development to manufacture.

9) Minimize interruptions & noise – in the product development area.

10) Promote a democratic involving Management style – to increase free discussion and mutual respect.

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PGBANNERSTATIC

Adding ideas to the Roadmap……

Bizplan03

Now you need to add those ideas generated from your Brainstorming session to your Product Roadmap. We suggest the following process:-

1) The first key step is to match the New Product Ideas to the Technology Roadmap. If the Idea does not match up to the Technology available then the capability to bring it to market will be extremely limited and the cost of developing the appropriate technology will have to be taken into consideration.

2) The Business Case should be thoroughly reviewed in terms of potential Market, Unit Cost, Selling Price, Volume, Resources etc

3) Products generating the greatest IRR (Internal Rate of Return) should be given priority.

4) Only when the above process has been followed and New Product Ideas meet the required Company criteria should the New Product Development commence.

By pursuing a New Product Development process which follows a defined Product Roadmapping process you will ensure that New Product Developments are resourced effectively and time to market is minimized which brings maximum returns.

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“If you don’t know where your going…

product roadmap

product roadmap

any road will take you there.” – Lewis Carroll

To increase the success ratio in New Product Development it is essential that your company has its own New Product Development Roadmap.

This Roadmap highlights the Products your organization intends to develop in the coming years.  These product developments should be based on sound market intelligence, garnered from current customers and taking into account market developments and competitor analysis.

The New Product Roadmap doesn’t just identify market opportunities. It also takes into account the Technologies, Resources, Finances, Production Capacity etc etc so that the whole Organization knows exactly what needs to be put in place so that that the New Products are launched successfully.

The New Product Roadmap needs to be approved at the very top of the Organization. It is a “living document” which should be reviewed on a regular basis and updated as required.

The adoption of a New Product Roadmap clarifies the direction the organization is headed in and ensures that everyone is “singing from the same Hymn sheet”

“If you don’t know where you’re headed any road will take you there”

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