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A “gated process” implements project reviews that take place before the project can continue to the next phase. |
“Having a process in place offers opportunities to periodically evaluate the success of the project and make adjustments to improve the chances of success.” |
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All products, regardless of how simple or complex, should follow the same basic product development process. This process can be tailored according to the type of product and the level of complexity. Spruce Consulting Group can evaluate your situation and recommend a specific product development system to meet your needs. Below you will find a general outline of the product development process. Spruce Consulting Group can create a customized “tool box” to help your process stay on track and simplify steps for your business. |
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Your Custom Toolbox · A documented process that is flexible and fits your products · Outlines and templates for standard documents · Forms to document product reviews and approvals, including checklists to facilitate planning · Methods for tracking and displaying progress · Training materials for your staff
Phases of the Product Development Process · Early in the design process, it is critical to determine the product requirements from the customers point of view. Properly defining these primary requirements can make or break your business. Even for simple products, this process involves careful market research and a well developed strategy to determine what the primary requirements are for your product. · Once the primary requirements for the product have been developed, a Requirements Flow-Down Analysis can be done. This process uncovers lower level or Secondary Requirements. For example, consider your local coffee-shop chain. The customer requirement is for premium coffee. This requirement flows down to several areas, including the coffee beans used, the equipment behind the bar, and even what kind of cup to serve the coffee in. You can’t charge $3.50 for a cup of coffee and have it taste like Styrofoam. Now you have uncovered a new requirement for a cup that will not adversely affect taste, while keeping the coffee hot. This step can be extremely rigorous and detailed, or it can be optimized for minimum slow-down. · Once you document all the requirements, you can conduct a Preliminary Design Review or PDR. The purpose of this review is to verify that all of the requirements are documented and you have a conceptual design that is expected to meet all of those requirements. Open issues get identified so that appropriate resources can be spent on them. Back to our coffee example. If you know where to buy thick paper cups that will meet your requirement, you don’t need to expend further resources in a cup search. However, if you haven’t figured out which espresso machine brews the fastest cup, that would be an area to focus on. A good PDR helps identify priorities, focus efforts and avoid wasting time when what you have is good enough. · Now that you finished PDR, your detailed design can begin. During this phase, budgets get juggled and designs get tweaked. The key to success in this phase is managing the ripple effect. Often changing one aspect of the design will have unforeseen effects on other areas. · As designs solidify, it comes time for a Critical Design Review, or CDR. The purpose of CDR is to innumerate the final requirements, primary and secondary, and show that the final design will meet those requirements. CDR shows that your design phase is complete and you are ready to move into prototyping and testing. · In the next phase, you test your product. This can be very quantitative or very qualitative. Do customers like it? Will it perform as designed? Every requirement that was identified must be verified. If any of the tests result in failure, you will be back to re-evaluating requirements and designs. Did it fail the test due to poor design, or poor requirements? If the requirement was overstated, perhaps failing the test doesn’t mean redesign. It is critical to take an objective view. The last thing you want to do is go to market with an inferior product when you had a chance to get it right. · In the final stage, you need to get ready to launch. How will you reach those initial customers? Will your production be ready in time? What kind of advertising or promotion will be most effective? How will your product get into the customers hands? What kind of customer support will you offer? Do you have an on-going marketing plan in place? |
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Product Development Systems |
