Decorate To Sell

Your product development projects are stumbling: You're running out of money. Products are late. Panicked team leaders are cutting corners and squandering scarce resources on "squeaky wheels."

Halt the chaos--by approaching product development systematically. Categorize each project as: "derivative" (incremental changes to an existing product), "breakthrough" (major change creating an entirely new product line), "platform" (improvement in cost, quality, and performance over previous product generations), "R&D" (creation of new materials and technologies for later commercial development), or "alliances" (relationships formed with other companies to pursue a project).

Determine which projects contribute most to your company’s competitive strategy. Reallocate resources from non-strategic projects to these strategic ones.

Today's Management Tip was adapted from the Harvard Business Review article, "Creating Project Plans to Focus Product Development," by Steven C. Wheelwright and Kim B. Clark.

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