Shipulski On Design

Good new product development projects deliver value to customers.  Bad ones create value for your company, not for customers.  Can you discern between custom value and company value?  What do you do when there’s an abundance of company value and a shortfall of customer value?  Do you run the project anyway or pull the emergency brake as soon as possible?

Customers decide if the new product has value.  That’s a rule. No one likes that rule, but it’s still a rule. The loudest voice doesn’t decide; it only drowns out the customer’s voice.

Having too many projects is worse than having too few.  With too few, you finish projects quickly because shared resources are not overutilized.  With too many, shared resources are overbooked, their service times blossom, and projects are late.   Would you rather start two projects and finish two or start seven and finish none? That’s how it goes with projects.

Three enemies of new product development: waiting, waiting, waiting.  Waiting that extends the critical path is the worst flavor of all.   Can you tell when the waiting is on the critical path?  If you calculate the cost of delay, it’s possible to spend money to eliminate waiting that’s on the critical path and make more money for your company.  H/T to Don Rienertsen.

For projects, effectiveness is more important than efficiency.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Would you rather efficiently run the wrong project (low effectiveness) or run the right project inefficiently?  Do you spend more mental energy on efficiency or effectiveness? (You don’t have to say your answer out loud.)

I think post-mortems of projects have no value.  The next project will be different, and the learning will not be applicable or forgotten altogether.  However, I think pre-mortems are powerful and can improve the effectiveness of a project BEFORE it is started.  I suggest you try it on your next project.

Strategy is realized through projects. Projects generate growth.  Cost savings come to life through projects.  I think building a deeper understanding of your projects is the most important thing you can do.

Image credit — Mike Keeling (one too many head on collisions)

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