Case Study: Improving the Product Development System Across 4 Business Units
Issue
Division comprised of 4 business units (BU) was struggling with the complexity of product development. Each business unit operated independently
The division had overly complicated business process maps, and the staff did not follow them
Each business unit lacked commercial feasibility activities
Lack of cross-functional integration between product management and engineering
Lack of a central idea repository, thus ideas were on various shared drives, individual hard drives or lost
Solution
Built an easy to follow sustainable Body of Knowledge (BOK) that included process inputs, activities, outputs, roles and responsibilities and templates
Central repository for each BU was created and populated with existing and new ideas
Integrated commercial feasibility activities into the process
Assumptions were built into the process to reduce project uncertainty and risks
Decision criteria was implemented to assist senior management in prioritizing projects
Why it Worked
Cross-functional team with the assistance of Strategy 2 Market designed the future product development process
Topics were reviewed weekly to build buy-in with key stakeholders (senior management and colleagues)
Trained senior management and project team on their expected role within the product development process
Integrated product management and engineering activities within the process enabled cross-functional participation
Assigned a process owner to each BU who was responsible for maintaining the process on an on-going basis
Outcome
A clear path of product development was established across the 4 BU’s
A robust pipeline of ideas for each BU was captured and vetted in the product development process
Risks were reduced substantially by identifying, evaluating and prioritizing assumptions
Cross-functional team members work closely together in developing early-staged prototypes
Projects now have higher commercial success
Resources were optimized by working on the most valuable projects
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