New Product Development Process Enables Soaring Growth
Business Problem
An international hard goods product developer and manufacturer experienced steep year-over-year business growth that more than doubled the number of products in development. This extremely rapid growth had two major effects: 1) it spread resources thin, straining the ability of the client’s New Product Development (NPD) team to meet the increased product delivery demands; and 2) exposed formerly invisible process inefficiencies that presented formidable obstacles to scaling with new demand.
Approach
Forum worked alongside the client’s team to lead in-flight product development projects while simultaneously improving processes and ways of working to bring products to market. Our assessment revealed that heavy project workloads and process overhead resulted in fractured communication and execution which caused friction between functional groups. Leading with an inclusive, supportive, and objective approach to create open and transparent communication, we created a cohesive NPD team that identified, planned, and executed sustainable process improvements. To ensure adoption and sustainability, we developed a continuous improvement process focused on creating positive experiences to not only ‘change the work’, but also to ‘change how we work and interact’. This included:
Quick wins to improve agility in project execution: Low-value, time consuming meetings were eliminated. Leadership approvals were altered to virtual methods at the speed-of-need, rather than the previous set weekly cadence. Communication expectations were radically reset by implementing and enforcing a standardized communications structure with defined transitions between team members.
Actionable information quality and accuracy: Emphasis was placed on ensuring project information was accurate, reliable, actionable, accessible, and that risks were communicated quickly for resolution – looking weeks ahead to enable effective project execution course correction when appropriate.
Focus on the right things: We adopted a ‘manage to the milestone/season’ methodology to ensure the highest priority products and timelines were on track. This focused critical near-term work top-of-mind, identified risks earlier, enabled smoother interaction with leadership and adjacent organizations, and provided growth and ownership opportunities for individual project team members.
Robust collaborative and inclusive planning: For new projects entering the NPD queue, Functional Managers (including global factory support) now owned providing timely and relevant feedback to the Product team. This produced more complete product requirements and the subsequent project plan represented the most accurate view of the required work, thereby reducing potential issues or costly requirements changes once in development.
Additionally, to assist the client in building out their FTE staff, we provided input on the proposed Project Manager role job description and onboarded and trained the new full-time employee. We also provided recommendations for further improving time to market agility, robustness, and resilience in their product development journey, including architectural considerations for the client’s next generation project management system.
Results
The client realized reduced process overhead and a more sustainable product portfolio delivery performance with client-centered solutions. With more robust planning, better and more uniform information, clearer priorities, timely decisions, and increased visibility on where to prioritize or deploy assistance, the client now plans and executes projects more consistently, more quickly and with more resilience. This success, in turn, has resulted in reduced friction and reinforced ongoing improved teamwork and collaboration between the functional groups. As a result:
Project execution performance hit a new mark - The client’s NPD project milestone monthly on-time delivery rate increased to 100% for the first time.
Cooperation and teamwork replaced friction - The NPD Functional Managers collaborated to develop and implement continued product development process improvements.