Tag: Leadership Innovation

Gethin Roberts On How To Design And Manufacture A Product That People Want To Buy

by Bright Osadiaye, posted in Improve Academy
people holding ceramic objects
Photo by Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels.com

My Takeaways:

‘Developing a new products is exciting, but your motivation to see it through to the end will be stronger if you know which aspects of the process you’re going to find most enjoyable.’

‘It is important to keep commercial realities in mind when embarking on your product journey.’

‘Before you explore your product idea further, examine the problem that it’s solving.’

‘Does your idea come from your own experience or from market analysis?’

‘Is your product an innovation or an improvement?’

‘You need to ask for feedback on your idea from the type of people who will use it.’

‘When defining your target customer, think about what kind of person they are and also what they already buy.’

‘Ensure that you gain feedback from them so that you can validate or change your product idea.’

‘Work out what features your target customer really wants, rather than adding everything you can.’

‘If your product is (and customer) is suitable for different model, you can increase your long-term revenue by exploring alternative options.’

‘Remember that the model should be in service of the product rather than the other way around.’

‘It’s important to start thinking early about how much your product will cost to make.’

‘Unit costs depend on various factors: the location of the factory, the minimum order quantity, the type of tooling, the exchange rate, and shipping costs.’

‘Consider your ‘why’ when deciding what route to take.’

‘Once you start talking to people, the main elements to focus on are how that person responds to your idea, and what their understanding is of all the stages of the design process.’

Source

Gethin Roberts (2023). The Product Innovator’s Handbook: How to Design and Manufacture a Product that People Want to Buy

Robert G. Cooper On Winning At New Products

by Bright Osadiaye, posted in Improve Academy, Leadership, Management, Workplace Learning
cookbooks about fruit and vegetables
Photo by Souranshi Fashion and Lifestyle Magazine on Pexels.com

My Takeaways:

‘A superior and differentiated product- one that delivers unique benefits and superior value to the customer- is the number one driver of success and new-product profitability.’

‘Building in the voice of customer is one of the strongest drivers of new-product profitability, and also of the time efficiency. But the great majority of companies miss that mark here- with insufficient VoC and no fact-based customer insights.’

‘People don’t know what they’re looking for until they see it or experience it. So get something in front of the customer or user fast- and keep repeating these tests all the way through to formal product testing or field trials.’

‘Introduce tough gates with teeth and kill the weak projects. The ressult is better focus- fewer but better development initiatives.’

‘The ability to leverage core competencies- both marketing and technical- are important project screening criteria. Attack from a position of strength!’

‘A cross-functional team, with clearly assigned and accountable team members, on the team from beginning to end, and led by a highly visible team leader, is a common denominator in best-innovating businesses.’

‘Gates prevent projects from moving too far ahead into the next stage until the critical activities have been completed, and in a quality fashion.’

‘Manage risk by breaking the process into increments. When the uncertainties and unknowns are high, keep the spending low.’

‘If you want speed to market, then focus- resource your projects properly.’

‘Agile breaks development into a series of short time-boxed sprints, typically two to four weeks long.’

‘The agile process is very fast and responsive- it is not plan based, but more ‘plan on the fly,’ sprint by sprint.’

‘Of the five most important drivers of businesses’ new product performance, idea management has the strongest impact.’

‘Customer visit teams are valuable for gaining real insights into the customer’s world: the ability to identify and focus on customer problems and unspoken needs, a Vital source of product ideas.’

‘Your own employees are excellent potential sources of new-product ideas. Yet all too often, internally generated ideas are either mundane or not acted upon.’

‘Project selection is part of the broader topic of portfolio management. It’s necessary to look at the broad topic- portfolio management- in order to be effective at project selection.’

‘Strategy drives your portfolio.’

‘The best way to destroy true or bold innovation in your business is to have tough early gates and use rigorous financial criteria to make these early Go/Kill decisions.’

‘Make project teams accountable for the projections they deliver. That way, projections are more realistic and accurate, and data integrity improves.’

‘Learn from the best-innovator companies. Develop a protocol for your gate meetings, including rules of engagement. And make sure there’s a process manager in the room with the authority to facilitate the meeting and enforce discipline.’

‘Your product-innovation strategy consists of the goals, objectives, and role for product innovation in your business; your strategic arenas- where you’ll focus your new-product efforts; where and how you’ll deploy your resources; and your attack plans- how you’ll win in targeted arenas.’

Source

Robert G. Cooper (2017). Winning at New Products: Creating Value Through Innovation