Archive → April, 2011
Leadership’s Obligation in NPD
For any project there are specifications, schedules, plans, engineering documents, tools and an engineering team. All the key ingredients for a successful new product are in place, yet the deck is stacked against flawless execution to a schedule that produces the product revenue and margins that signify a solid victory. Something happens, something always happens that degrades the opportunity from the ideal initial case to something less than what was originally envisioned. The product takes longer, costs more to develop, has lower margin than planned and does not meet the business case volume figures.
At times a project is dissected in an attempt to discover why things did not go as per the plan. Other times it is just chalked up as just being the way it is. Step back for a moment and consider what it takes to really enable a new products success. How does that go – “Insanity is doing the same things and expecting different results”. It’s undoubtedly time to do things differently.
Many know what should be done differently, however changes tend to fall into a small set of typical and generally comfortable tweaks to the development process. Some changes are implemented and some are only wishes to be applied sometime later. The question that must be honestly answered is “How’s that conventional approach been working out?” Most organizations are a slave to the new product development machine, a self-imposed dominance by a system that is viewed as out of reach by any subset of the organization.
Achievement of the next level in new product delivery will require a vision that explores areas that are seldom considered, back to the roots of what makes projects tick. This modern mental picture of new product projects must go beyond the typical success enablers that are routinely perceived as essential; such conventional ingredients have not been facilitating the level of new product success businesses actually require. Nothing is to be considered off limits, absolutely nothing!
The last significant change to the business process for building chips was the adoption of formal project management concepts and personal, well over 15 years back. It is beyond time for a revolutionary change. Consider that the semiconductor business is at a new product development crossroad. One way is a comfortable, known quantity that will provide new product results on par with past years and most of the industry. The other path is a challenging endeavor, where success will carve out a dominating and profitable niche in the marketplace.
If leadership is up to the challenge in revolutionizing the approach to new products it’s game on, otherwise they must be honest about new product execution and quietly accept what is. There is no middle ground here. Demanding improvement without actually enabling it has just not worked, and never will. Leadership is obligated to provide people, money, time, sponsorship, experts, guidance, empowerment and dedicated ownership. This is not rocket science; it’s as simple as put up, or quietly accept. What is it to be?