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
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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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