Comparison of New Product Development (Technology Transition) Strategies
Rapid Product Development or Rapid Concept (Research) to Market (Operations)
Product Dev. Institute
 Customer focused
Harvard I
 Development strategy
- Build in market-focused actions - Prioritize projects
- Market needs/customer value
- Functional integration
- Field work by core project team - Maximize efficiency
- Begin early
- Create/improve capabilities
- Broaden the base
 Functional mapping
 Front-end loaded
- Marketing mapping
- Preliminary market assessment
- Engineering mapping
- Technical assessment
- Manufacturing mapping
- Supplier assessment
- Integrative mapping
- Market research
 Aggregate project planning
- Concept testing
- Research projects
- Customer value assessment
- Alliance-based projects
- Business/financial assessment
- Incremental projects
 Spiral development
- Breakthrough projects
- User needs and wants study
- Next-generation projects
- Full proposition concept test
 Development funnels
- Rapid prototype and test
- Research-driven
- Field trial and beta test
- Entrepreneurial-driven
 Cross functional teams
- Innovation-driven
- Multi-disciplinary team
 Development framework
- End-to-end project
- Customer-focused
responsibility
- Disciplined
- Clearly defined team leader
- Coherence and detailed
- Excellent communications
- Fit with mission
- Empowerment over resources
- Standardized pattern
 Measure and improve
- Put performance metrics in
place
- Establish success criteria
- Hold teams responsible
- Continuously improve
 Maximize portfolio
productivity
- Strategic buckets
- Product roadmaps
- Project selection/prioritization
- Resource allocations
- Portfolio reviews
 Product innovation
- Institutionalize stage-gates
- Scalable/adaptable stage-gates
- Automate stage-gates
- Alliance-enabled stage-gates
- Improve stage-gates
Cooper, R G., & Cooper, R. G.
(2005). Lean, rapid, and profitable
new product development. Ancaster,
ON: Product Development Institute.
Harvard II
 Acceptance of risk
 Flexible environment
 Open communication
- Lead time focus
 Organization-wide
- Productivity focus
commitment
- Total product quality focus
 Value innovation
 Integration in the
 Focus on end-user needs
development process
 Reduced lead times
- Overlapping and
 Consistent funding
communication
 Use of COTS
- Small team sizes and
 Iterative development
specialization
 Simple procurement and
- Simple, flatter organizations
acquisition processes
 Integrating customer and
 Flexible standards and
product
- Heavyweight product managers testing procedures
- Customer access and orientation  Decentralized decisionmaking
- Leadership by concept
NASA
 Schedule/budget constraints
 Collocated personnel
 Flat organization
 Concurrent engineering
 Contract outsourcing
 Streamlined acquisition
 COTS components
 Design reuse
 Flexible designs
 Front-loaded funding
 Simplified reviews
 Minimal redundancy
 Extensive testing
 Public relations
LeanTEC
 Technology transition
process
 Enabling environment
 Technology transition
portfolio
 Project resources
 Project charters
 Project plans
 Project contracts
 Communication protocols
 Collaboration protocols
 Shared team experiences
 Formal reviews
 Manufacturing for design
- Manufacturing principles focus
- Rapid prototyping
- Rapid tools development
Common Factors
 Early market feedback (e.g., on each increment).
 Iterative development (e.g., 30-60-90 day increments).
 Small, highly-qualified cross-functional project teams
with influential leaders (e.g., mostly PhDs).
 Flexible processes and products (e.g., streamlined
processes and rapid-prototyping technologies).
 Cross-functional integration
- Cross-communication
- Relationship management
- Organization commitment
- Management commitment
- Incentives to integrate
 Cross-functional leadership
- Functional teams
- Lightweight teams
- Heavyweight teams
- Autonomous teams
(What this boils down to is integrating and streamlining
research, development, and operations into a single,
smaller, and more efficient organization.)
 Tools and methods
 Prototype test cycles
 Organizational learning
 Capability development
Wheelwright, S. C., & Clark, K. B.
(1992). Revolutionizing product
development: Quantum leaps in
speed, efficiency, and quality. New
York, NY: The Free Press.
National Research Council
 Superior performance in
time, productivity, and
quality
Clark, K. B., & Fujiinoto, T. (1991).
Product development performance:
Strategy, organization, and
management in the world auto
industry. Boston, MA: Harvard.
Apelian, D. (2004). Accelerating
technology transition: Bridging the
valley of death for materials and
processes in defense systems.
Washington, DC: National Research
Council.
Pate-Cornell, M. E., & Dillon, R. L.
(2001). Success factors and future
challenges in the management of
faster, better, and cheaper projects:
Lessons learned from NASA. IEEE
Transactions on Engineering
Management, 48(1), 25-35.
Shroyer, E. (2002). Lean transition of
emerging industrial capability
(AFRL-ML-WP-TR-2002-4191). Air
Force Research Laboratory, WrightPatterson AFB, OH.