Harvard Business Review

JULY 15, 2014

For example, in a previous post I described how Amazon’s ability to continuously release software changes (8000 per day, one every 11 seconds) will crush competitors who are making a batch change every six weeks. It’s cheaper because of automation and because small development teams need less coordination and oversight.

Product Development 9

Product Development Software Review Technical Review Development Team Review 9

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 16, 2018

Consider the example of Nicolas, a regional sales vice president at a medical devices company. Although his one-on-one meetings with these reports, which involved progress reviews, motivation, and coaching, were highly productive, his monthly team meetings weren’t. Architects: design and transform the organization.

Development Team Review 14

Development Team Review Report Groups Meeting 14

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 28, 2018

” Indeed, not just in business but also in politics, sports, and the arts, there is no shortage of real-world examples of successful partnerships that were fueled as much by the alignment of ideas as by creative tension or discord. William Wrigley Jr., Set bold but achievable goals. Elicit conflict and adversity.

Creativity 15

Creativity Development Team Review Study Case Study 15

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 28, 2012

Like many companies, Exotech struggled with serious time delays in its product-development projects. The hardware team had employed similar processes in the past and found them helpful. So the company assumed the software team would, too. But they didn't for the software-development team.

Software Review 15

Software Review Software Development Software Developers Development Team Review 15

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 21, 2015

So marketers must develop the same mind-set and skills that allow agile tech and product-development teams to manage complex projects with many unknowns and moving parts. For example, if you’re going to run a series of pay-per-click advertisements, begin with a budget of only a few hundred dollars.

Agile 14

Agile Marketing Underperforming Technical Team Technical Review 14

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

For these reasons, my advice is to avoid relying on a collaborative relationship except in the rare cases when a company objective is important enough to warrant some collaborative action but not so important as to warrant a dedicated team. And don't think of it as a permanent solution.

Collaboration 15

Collaboration Development Team Review Disruption Product Development 15

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 29, 2016

” will be difficult for many companies to achieve — not for lack of technological expertise but because they’ll fail to recognize the value of design in connected product development. Product design considerations in the IoT 1.0 This evolution to “Internet of Things (IoT) 2.0”

Internet of things 15

Internet of things Design Technology Product Development 15

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 8, 2011

Most project review meetings, which involved top managers asking challenging questions of project team members, constructively shaped projects for the better. After one such meeting, for example, a team member wrote in his diary, "The project passed start gate today. Find small wins even in setbacks.

Video 15

Video Design Technical Review Development Team Review 15

Harvard Business Review

JULY 22, 2015

In addition to receiving traditional training, each participant designs and carries out a 100-day project that targets an important business challenge, such as increasing the firm’s footprint in the health care segment or developing new software to enhance mobile phones (these are real examples).

Project 15

Project Design Learning Underperforming Technical Team 15

Harvard Business Review

MAY 24, 2011

For a top management group, it might be the requirement to reduce overall expenses or headcount by 20%; for a sales or business development team, the goal might be to increase revenues by 10% in the next quarter; and for a product development team the focus could be on accelerating a market launch by two months.

Collaboration 15

Collaboration Brainstorming Resources Leadership 15

Harvard Business Review

MAY 15, 2018

Yet most organizations don’t manage internal collaboration productively, and assume that technology or formal org charts can yield agility. We assessed these strategically important groups in a wide range of global organizations via network surveys, which were completed by more than 30,000 employees.

Agile 15

Agile Underperforming Technical Team How To Collaboration 15

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 31, 2014

Netflix, for example, eliminated all the administrative labor and financial expense that went into managing paid time-off. What about processes that are more central to a company’s operations, such as product development, customer service, or materials purchasing? Here are three principles to keep in mind. The result?

Underperforming Technical Team 15

Underperforming Technical Team Policies Product Development Course 15

Harvard Business Review

MAY 24, 2016

Other failed products either answer a question no one cares about or are the wrong answer to the right question – Google Glass or the Segway personal transporter, for example. The problem with wildly successful products. Four examples in very different industries help illustrate the pitfalls of minivations.

Product Development 11

Product Development Development Team Review Analysis Marketing 11

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 17, 2015

Consider the battle waged by IBM’s software development teams between competing methods for getting closer to customers. ” As design expertise became more critical to the success of IBM products and services, increasingly designers worked more frequently in collaboration with software engineers on product development.

Software Review 15

Software Review Design Thinking Software Design 15

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 2, 2016

For example, when Rolls Royce or GE provide a “power by the hour” engine solution, they are delivering an outcome and potentially more value to the customer. Product development teams will need to focus on delivering products as a service to enable real-time service level monitoring.

Company 14

Company Internet of things Data Product Development 14

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 4, 2012

Apple, DuPont and IBM are all wonderful examples of companies that have completely redefined their businesses through the pursuit of transformative endeavors. Innovation is the confluence of product development and a business model that can deliver those products to customers at a profit.

Company 15

Company Innovation Product Development Technology 15

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 19, 2017

While initially designed to improve the responsiveness of software development teams, more recently agile has become the default team-based operational model for companies big and small, across industries and sectors, with the promise of a substantial and sustained spike in team productivity and efficiency.

Agile 8

Agile Software Review Technical Review Development Team Review 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 21, 2014

Xavier’s new role, at least for the next year, was to lead a product development team in Monterrey. He arranged a meeting of his team and set out responsibilities. As the original example illustrates, national culture clearly plays an important role in this regard. A task-oriented one? Or a combination of both?

Culture 14

Culture Technical Review Tips Course 14

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 13, 2014

new product releases every day, not every year), has caused an increasing pressure on product development in other areas, and on management in general, to change more continuously as well. For an example, I spoke with Andy Singleton , CEO of Assembla , a firm that helps software development teams build software faster.

Software 11

Software Industry Management Disruption 11

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 28, 2016

Engaging with your users on a regular basis — through reporting tools built into your product, online surveys, or focus groups, for example — is a necessary step for understanding, rather than assuming you know, their challenges and needs.

Data 12

Data Tools Design Collaboration 12

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 24, 2018

In Brooklyn, for example, MINI, where one of us works, runs A/D/O, a combination coworking space, café, concept store, and fabrication lab. Orange’s VBN is one example; another belongs to a large telco in Silicon Valley, where its teams huddle alongside those from customers to prototype products and services.

Company 14

Company Survey Design Report 14

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 10, 2016

For example, suppose that you and the interview team think that Jodi may be overstating his accomplishments. ” or “Tell me a little about the product development team Jodi worked on.” Collect input from all the people who interviewed the candidate and focus on one or two concerns to check out.

How To 12

How To Tips Product Development Management 12

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

They don’t need to be part of every discussion, but CEOs do need to make pricing and new product development their priority. Many companies go through an innovation process where there is a lot of focus on R&D and then right before they are about to launch the product, that is when pricing is considered.

Survey 14

Survey Innovation Processes Marketing Course 14

Harvard Business Review

MAY 7, 2015

Consumers use products to fulfill many different kinds of needs. Avery illustrates four, using a Sam Adams beer as an example: Functional (or utilitarian) needs. “There may be a dollar amount that is attached to the problem the consumer is experiencing before they use the product.” Social needs.

Marketing 14

Marketing Examples Management Company 14

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 3, 2013

van Wassenhove, both of Insead in France, found that the complexity of high-tech innovation efforts can blur teams’ perceptions. The following highly condensed fictional case study draws on their paper “Anatomy of a Decision Trap in Complex New Product Development Projects” in Academy of Management Journal. What went wrong?

Underperforming Technical Team 9

Underperforming Technical Team Management Project Innovation 9

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 25, 2015

For example, as part of NASA’s Orion program , we’re responsible for making a spacecraft that will ultimately take the first humans to Mars. Because the tapestry weaves these together, we can now, for example, 3D-print satellite parts directly from the original computer design model.

Collaboration 11

Collaboration Design System Creativity 11

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 4, 2013

It has a more rigorous organization structure that divides responsibilities between the innovation team and development team, and strengthens management around the opportunity pipeline. These teams have disciplined processes to get the technology to market, generally with a one- to two-year product horizon.

Technology 9

Technology Underperforming Technical Team Innovation System 9

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 8, 2018

Digital companies, however, consider scientists’ and software workers’ and product development teams’ time to be the company’s most valuable resource. For example, the legacy part of the organization is subject to tight fiscal discipline while the VC arm is given pots of money to bet on new ideas.

Report 8

Report Development Team Review Project Resources 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 4, 2012

Apple, DuPont and IBM are all wonderful examples of companies that have completely redefined their businesses through the pursuit of transformative endeavors. Innovation is the confluence of product development and a business model that can deliver those products to customers at a profit.

Company 8

Company Innovation Product Development Technology 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 23, 2018

If innovation projects are going to succeed, they’ll need to survive a handoff from an innovation team to an execution team. Here’s an example. One major Asian electronics company built a design lab to develop new hardware product ideas. And every time you create a handoff, you risk dropping the baton.

Project 8

Project How To Innovation Design 8

Harvard Business Review

JULY 19, 2017

As they spread to all its software development teams, Michael Holm, the company’s CEO and cofounder, began to worry that his leadership team was hindering progress. So in 2010, Holm decided to run his nine-member executive group as an agile team. Systematic Inc.,

Agile 8

Agile Underperforming Technical Team How To Leadership 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 19, 2015

This is the case, for example, with digital advertising. This problem can be compounded when senior executives publicly announce these non-products in an “exciting new space,” creating more pressure on the project development team to deliver something (anything) before it is clear what exactly should be delivered.

Underperforming Technical Team 14

Underperforming Technical Team Product Development Development Team Review Competition 14