Whilst most companies recognise the crucial business significance of product development, many struggle to create a development process that provides true competitive advantage. This popular workshop focuses on the improvement approaches that enable project cycle times to be drastically reduced – without requiring fundamental changes to the product development process. The interactive and practical delivery style will provide in-depth coverage of material that focuses on the latest developments in cutting product development cycles, and includes many case study examples from a wide range of industry sectors to illustrate best (and worse!) practice. The workshop will also emphasise the quantitative and technical dimensions of optimising development cycles – dimensions that are too often overlooked by those who believe that development is an art, not a science.

FEEDBACK FROM PREVIOUS EVENTS

Very good indeed, the presenter has invaluable experience to pass on, (which is rare), and understands Engineers (rarer still).
Engineering Manager

I was greatly impressed by this course. It was immediately relevant and has provided me with tools and rules of thumb that will benefit both me and my company.
Director of R&D

Probably the most stimulating course I have attended, in the way that the concepts challenge existing ideas.
Product Development Manager

I wish I could have had this information years ago. Design Engineering Director

Excellent content, relaxed presentation. Cost of delay and capacity management concepts will prove more powerful than many years of technical training.
R&D Manager

Excellent review of cutting edge techniques in product development.
Technical Manager

Excellent – I expect this course to make a real difference to our company and you can't ask for more than that!
Managing Director

USING ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

Good business decisions can only be made when we understand the economic impact of our actions. We will discuss how to determine the cost of delay versus other development objectives, and how to use this information to assist the day-to-day management of a project.

• Modelling development programme economics

• Quantifying the cost of delay

• Developing trade-off rules for programmes with multiple goals

MANAGING THE FUZZY FRONT END

Commonly half the available development cycle is expended before development even starts. We will discuss what causes this to happen, and the techniques that can be used to achieve faster project starts.

• Why the predevelopment process is so critical

• How to measure the Fuzzy Front End

• Practical approaches for shortening the predevelopment phase

USING INCREMENTAL INNOVATION

Controlling the scope of programmes is one of the more powerful techniques for shortening cycles. This technique reduces both risk and cycle time. We will discuss how to do it and why it works.

• Avoiding the mega-project trap

• The pros and cons of incremental innovation

• Prerequisites for incremental innovation

CREATING EFFECTIVE PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS

Good specifications are crucial, because without them projects become unstable often requiring complete redirection and massive delays. Yet, many product specifications are developed through a highly sequential process that assumes the market will stand still throughout the development process. We will discuss approaches to quickly developing specs that work.

• Simplifying the product specification process

• Working with changing requirements

• The pitfalls of a specification-driven process

• Going beyond what the customer wants

• Using application economics to improve specifications

USING PRODUCT ARCHITECTURE

Development cycles can be dramatically shortened by correct system design decisions. However, these decisions are rarely used as a tool to shorten development cycles. We will discuss approaches to managing product architecture that are well suited for rapid development. The role of modular product structures The importance of interface management The benefits of risk concentration.

• The role of modular product structures

• The importance of interface management

• The benefits of risk concentration

STAFFING AND ORGANISING FOR STREAMLINED PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Teams need to be selected with the right combination of skills, the correct cross-functional mix, and certain types of people. We will discuss approaches to team selection that work when developing products quickly.

• Managing part-time team members

• Co-location and its alternatives

• Alternative organisational forms

• Setting boundaries for the team

DESIGNING FAST DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULES

One of the keys to rapid development is causing tasks to occur concurrently rather than sequentially. This should occur both throughout the development process and within individual stages. We will give examples of how this overlap is achieved and what some of its negative and positive consequences are.

• The importance of activity overlap

• The limits of phased development

• Assessing overlapping schedules using the control triangle

CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR RAPID DEVELOPMENT

Rapid product development requires different control strategies than conventional project management. Team empowerment becomes a critical need. We will discuss practical approaches to managing and controlling rapid development teams.

• Basing controls on economics

• Reducing control system delays

• Reducing low value control activities

CAPACITY MANAGEMENT

Rapid development requires careful management of work queues. Most companies overload their development organisations and ignore these queues. We will discuss the consequences of poor capacity management and the techniques used to avoid these problems.

• Analysing development process queues Techniques for controlling queues

• The fallacy of optimising efficiency

• Setting the right level of excess capacity

CONTROLLING RISK

Rapid product development does not inherently raise overall project risk. Most companies use testing strategies that are not explicitly designed to use time efficiently. We will discuss approaches for reducing the overall risk associated with rapid development programs.

• Defining technical and market risk

• Smart testing strategies & test process analysis

• Accelerating life testing

MANAGING THE MANUFACTURING INTERFACE

Concurrent Engineering – the overlapping of product and process design – is an extremely powerful technique for shortening cycles, but one that sometimes falls short of its promise. We will discuss where opportunities for overlap occur when developing product and processes concurrently.

• Increasing early manufacturing involvement

• Increasing early supplier involvement

• Decoupling product and process development