Managing Development for Speed

About this Publication

Overview
This Quick Insight investigates why companies must understand the reasons for “buying” time for projects, and how they can calculate what that time is worth. It also provides key insights into the issues and mechanisms that can be used by teams to work more effectively and faster; to ensure timely delivery.

Implications
Reducing time to market is a key driver of the modern new product development process. Learning to calculate the cost of delay therefore becomes an essential exercise. This report covers the core fundamentals of setting up for speed, including:

• What up-front planning needs to be established
• How to manage individual time constraints and what forms of contingency are required
• The setting of clear goals
• What levels of communication empower delivery
• How to take a flexible approach to management in the early stages of NPD

Originality
Even when a company’s success is dependent on its ability to be on time to market, too often product delivery teams struggle to meet deadlines, because they are focused on sub-task efficiency. This Quick Insight addresses the essential issue of economic analysis and highlights key learning and best practice mechanisms that are vital for “setting up for speed”.

Structure

• The “Focus On… Managing Development for Speed” reviews the thinking of expert Don Reinertsen and highlights the need for teams to develop practical models for decision making
• The “Streamlining Product Development and Reducing Time to Market” section outlines the structural, process and people-oriented mechanisms that one pharmaceutical company has put in place to create a product development process suited to strict project delivery requirements.
• A “Comparator Case Study” provides insights into the “bounding box” technique, which enables effective and rapid development within an environment of incomplete information

Table of Content

Key Insights