Why doesn’t Product Development always work in Orthopedics?
The Product Develop process is a complex journey filled with unpredictable hurdles. I have seen everything go wrong at one time or another during the 50 new devices that I have helped to develop in Orthopedics…under-funding, personality conflicts, inflexibility to new ideas, team role changes, NIH, customer distance, egos, political jockeying…I have seen it all.
The #1 Problem.
My opinion is that the number one culprit for most Product Development failures is “lack of product definition” on the front end. It all starts with the Design Input document. If the Design Inputs are ill-defined then the project is doomed. But even when Inputs are well defined, if team members do not agree with the interpretation of the Inputs, then the project is still doomed. Team members should be made up of the usual functions (Marketing, Development, Quality, Production) but don’t forget to include customers and sales people on the team (more about that in later blogs).
Advice
The team must spend extra time together early in a project to achieve concrete definitions and consensus with the Design Inputs. Of course…. it will probably change during the course of the project, but at least the team will have a common understanding of the product goals from the start. Also, the timeline will be more realistic. Marketing will be less likely to claim that the customer actually meant “this” instead of “that” late in the game. Engineering may be more open to new ideas. Etc. You get the picture.
Do you agree? Disagree? Do you have experience that you can share with us?
www.TigerBuford.com
Why doesn’t Product Development always work in Orthopedics?
The Product Develop process is a complex journey filled with unpredictable hurdles. I have seen everything go wrong at one time or another during the 50 new devices that I have helped to develop in Orthopedics…under-funding, personality conflicts, inflexibility to new ideas, team role changes, NIH, customer distance, egos, political jockeying…I have seen it all.
The #1 Problem.
My opinion is that the number one culprit for most Product Development failures is “lack of product definition” on the front end. It all starts with the Design Input document. If the Design Inputs are ill-defined then the project is doomed. But even when Inputs are well defined, if team members do not agree with the interpretation of the Inputs, then the project is still doomed. Team members should be made up of the usual functions (Marketing, Development, Quality, Production) but don’t forget to include customers and sales people on the team (more about that in later blogs).
Advice
The team must spend extra time together early in a project to achieve concrete definitions and consensus with the Design Inputs. Of course…. it will probably change during the course of the project, but at least the team will have a common understanding of the product goals from the start. Also, the timeline will be more realistic. Marketing will be less likely to claim that the customer actually meant “this” instead of “that” late in the game. Engineering may be more open to new ideas. Etc. You get the picture.
Do you agree? Disagree? Do you have experience that you can share with us?
www.TigerBuford.com
Why doesn’t Product Development always work in Orthopedics?
My opinion is that the number one culprit for most Product Development failures is “lack of product definition” on the front end. It all starts with the Design Input document. If the Design Inputs are ill-defined then the project is doomed. But even when Inputs are well defined, if team members do not agree with the interpretation of the Inputs, then the project is still doomed. Team members should be made up of the usual functions (Marketing, Development, Quality, Production) but don’t forget to include customers and sales people on the team (more about that in later blogs).
The team must spend extra time together early in a project to achieve concrete definitions and consensus with the Design Inputs. Of course…. it will probably change during the course of the project, but at least the team will have a common understanding of the product goals from the start. Also, the timeline will be more realistic. Marketing will be less likely to claim that the customer actually meant “this” instead of “that” late in the game. Engineering may be more open to new ideas. Etc. You get the picture.
www.TigerBuford.com