Principles Of Product Development
Dimple Belousson
Primary DOD, DHS, and NASA acquisition policies incorporate many aspects of the four key principles, to varying degrees. However, agencies miss opportunities for positive outcomes by not addressing some sub-principles in their policies.
GAO is making nine recommendations to DOD, DHS, and NASA to update acquisition policies to fully implement key principles of product development. All three agencies concurred with our recommendations.
This chapter focuses on understanding product development from an economic perspective. It emphasizes the importance of making decisions based on their overall economic impact rather than solely on proxy objectives like innovation or efficiency. The chapter introduces key principles and frameworks for quantifying the economic impact of product development decisions, highlighting the necessity of viewing these decisions through an economic lens for better profitability and efficiency.
This chapter delves into queueing theory and its application in product development. It explains how queues, often invisible in product development processes, significantly impact cycle time, costs, and overall efficiency. The chapter presents key principles to better understand and manage queues, highlighting the importance of balancing capacity utilization with queue size to optimize productivity and minimize economic waste.
This chapter challenges the conventional wisdom that variability in product development is inherently negative. It explores the economics of variability, demonstrating that while excessive variability can be detrimental, a certain level of variability is essential for innovation and value creation. The chapter offers a nuanced view, distinguishing between beneficial and harmful variability and providing strategies for managing and exploiting it effectively.
This chapter delves into the concept of batch size in product development, emphasizing its critical role in improving process efficiency and overall product quality. The focus is on understanding how reducing batch size can bring about significant improvements in various aspects of product development.
This chapter focuses on the application of Work-In-Progress (WIP) constraints in product development processes, drawing insights from both manufacturing systems like the Toyota Production System and data communication networks like the Internet.
In this chapter, the author delves into strategies for managing product development under conditions of uncertainty and variability, drawing parallels from traffic flow, telecommunications, and computer operating systems. The chapter explores concepts such as congestion, cadence, synchronization, sequencing work, and managing a development network, offering 30 principles for optimizing flow in product development processes.
This chapter focuses on the role of feedback loops and control systems in product development, drawing from concepts in economics and control systems engineering. It emphasizes the dynamic nature of product development goals and the asymmetric payoff functions, differentiating it from the more static and predictable world of manufacturing. The chapter is structured into five subsections, discussing feedback from an economic perspective, the benefits of fast feedback, control system design, the human factor in control systems, and practical metrics for product development.
This chapter delves into the concept of decentralized control in product development, drawing lessons from military doctrine, particularly the U.S. Marine Corps. It discusses the balance between centralization and decentralization, emphasizing the need for a blend of both to effectively manage uncertainty and rapidly changing conditions in product development.
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James M. Morgan and Jeffrey K. Liker, authors of The Toyota Product Development System, Integrating People, Process and Technology (2006, Productivity Press), offer the following product development guidelines practiced by lean manufacturing pioneer Toyota:
If you were looking into learning more about kanban and lean as it relates to software development projects, I would probably suggest you read them in the order I have listed above, with Principles of Product Development Flow following these. It is certainly the most advanced of the books. It also has the most to offer to any product-oriented business, and does a good job of debunking certain myths about lean as it relates to software development. Unsurprisingly, writing custom software without a script is not entirely analogous to manufacturing known goods using known techniques as quickly as possible. Reinertsen does a good job of demonstrating where and how lean manufacturing principles do not directly apply to software product development, and provides models and principles that can be applied with confidence.
Reinertsen suggests that when considering the optimal batch size, one should consider the U-Shaped Total Cost, as opposed to blindly believing that small batches are always better or striving for One Piece Flow (a nirvana of some lean approaches). Note too that these curves are merely examples, and that in order to apply this principle you must first understand the nature of the holding and transaction costs that apply to your process. You can also then work on changing the shape of these curves in order to lower your total cost, perhaps reducing transaction costs through automation.
Queue size multiplies the cost of delays. When we have 20 jobs in a queue, a 5 minute delay generates 100 minutes of delay time. When there are only two jobs in line, a 5 minute delay generates 10 minutes of delay time. You can apply this same logic to overloaded web servers, for which queued HTTP requests immediately result in massive performance degradation.
A key point in the variability chapter and the book as a whole is that small batch sizes and low variability are not universally desirable. Rather, there are economic payoff functions for each and cases where reducing batch size or variability can actually be the wrong decision, economically (which of course should be our basis for decision-making). When we do wish to reduce variability, one way to do so is by using principle V5, Variability Pooling: Overall variation decreases when uncorrelated random tasks are combined.
Successful product development is the main objective of every business that is trying to expand and grow. In order to build products like this, you have to possess a specific mindset that guarantees success. This mindset includes creativity, innovativeness, open-mindedness, persistence, and discipline.
This is one of the most important principles that refers to the process of identifying problems that your future product will address. It would be perfect if you are able to identify a problem that was not treated in the past or at least not in a way in which you are treating it. With a product like this, you will definitely grab the attention of your target audience.
When you are in the process of selecting a problem, you must visualize its potential impact in the future. Surely, people have to solve their problems today, but what if this problem is just temporary? Is it worth investing in product development that will become useless in a year? Your new product must be able to provide help to customers with their future needs too.
One of the ways to avoid situations like this is to stop relying only on current technologies. Try to be a visionary and predict in which way modern technology is evolving. For instance, the vast majority of mobile users have access to 3G and 4G cellular network technology.
In order to come up with products that include simplicity as one of their principles, you will have to test these products. We are not talking about simple testing because this is not just one test. You must test the product after every stage of the development process from the design phase to the beta version of the product.
Advanced testing will help you identify issues which can be resolved early in the life cycle. Without proper testing, the product development timeline will be affected in a negative way.
How to test products is a common question among businesses that are trying to introduce new products on the market. There are many ways to test products while they are still in their development phase.
The best idea is to test them on your existing customer base. Select a group of customers that will become your testers. What you will try to get here is their feedback. Thanks to their reactions, the development team will get a chance to adjust, modify and further develop the concept.
Finally, the product that you are trying to develop must have a certain level of scalability if you want it to be truly successful. As we have mentioned before, modern consumers have demands that are constantly changing. This is the main reason why you have to create products that are future-ready.
If you want to create a product like this, the development team must use technologies that are able to provide such changes and modifications in the future. Rely on a user-centric approach when you are developing a new product and a future upgrade and change will be easier.
That big picture is shaped by a few things: corporate strategy, market dynamics, and product principles. While the first two factors are often determined by outside forces, defined product principles are driven by the team itself.
Things are always changing. Companies scale. Employees come and go. Features evolve or get shelved. But product principles make sure the same core values remain intact regardless of the situation or personnel involved.
Gusto is a platform for small businesses to manage their payroll and employee benefits. To devise their product principles, they held a company retreat and solicited ideas from employees. At the end of the day, they narrowed it down to the five things they would want to tell a new employee on their first day:
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