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Eight
Best Practices for New Product
Development
By David Clark, New Business Development
Manager,
the Malco Design & Deliver Group
New products are critical to the success of every company.
No
one can drink from the same well year after year and
expect
to survive for the long run. Successful new product
development
can be achieved if you know and follow best
practices.
Here are 8 best practices that should not be
ignored.
1.
Commit your customers' requirements to writing.
Doing this will keep the project focused on what is important,
and
speed decision making.
2.
Create project check points. Checkpoints will help the
project
stay on track, and provide reality checks as the project
progresses.
3.
Make better use of time by using concurrent activities
whenever
possible. Don't wait for task "A" to be fully
completed before starting or completing task "B".
While every
project will have some tasks that are dependent on other
tasks
being completed first, try to identify those which are not
dependent and run them concurrently. This will help get your
projects completed sooner.
4.
Identify critical failure points early in the process and
resolve
them first. If there is an issue that could make or
break
the project, solve that issue as quickly as possible. If
it's
going to break the project, you need to know that before
you
commit additional time and money to the project.
5.
Involve potential customers as early as possible. Ask
them
what is working, what is not working, and why? Don't put
your investment at risk by developing a product that the
customer
doesn't want or cannot use as you have designed it.
6.
Document and challenge your assumptions. Whether
you
recognize them or not, every project has assumptions.
Who
will buy the product, how they will use it, what it will
cost,
what it needs to look like, where it will be made, how it
should
be packaged, etc. An unchallenged assumption,
especially
if it is wrong or outdated, can kill your project before
you ever start it. Your assumptions may be holding you back.
7.
Use backward planning to achieve target dates.
Determine
when you want to launch the product; a trade show
for example. Estimate what steps will be needed in the project
and how long each step should take. Work backwards from
your
desired introduction date. You may find you have time to
spare, or you may find you're already too late if you follow
your
current plan.
8.
Don't buy when you can rent. The key to success in
today's
market is flexibility. Don't buy an expensive piece of
equipment
to only make one prototype. Have someone else
make
it for you or rent time on their machine. The same goes
for people resources. Consider renting the resources of an
experienced development team to help you create a
successful
new product.
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