The PDMA s Body of Knowledge

Transcription

1 Appendix I The PDMA s Body of Knowledge Gerry Katz Executive Vice President, Applied Marketing Science, Inc. INTRODUCTION Purpose and Background Product and service development is part of virtually every organization, and now it is the subject of a great deal of study in many universities. However, due to the cross-functional nature of new product development, it has never fit very easily into the existing organizational structure of most business schools. Likewise, relatively few corporations to this day have a VP or C-level executive in charge of new product development. Thus, the status of product development and management as a recognized profession varies considerably. If product development is ever going to become a mature functional area in its own right (similar to marketing, finance, and operations management), consensus on a core body of knowledge is a crucial first step. PDMA, through the New Product Development Professional certification program, serves to improve the level of professional practice. Recognizing a core body of knowledge supports the certification of professionals and is central to furthering practice. Achieving consensus by the profession on a core body of knowledge is a strategic pillar identified by the PDMA board of directors as crucial for the evolution of product development and management toward professional status. What is the PDMA Body of Knowledge, and What are its Benefits? Initiated in 2003 by PDMA past president Mark Deck, the PDMA Body of Knowledge (PDMA-BOK) organizes, distills, and provides ready access to the continuously evolving core knowledge needed and used by product development and management professionals and their organizations. The body of knowledge starts with the basics and is expected to grow over time as the PDMA community at large adds to it. 455 The PDMA ToolBook 3 for New Product Development, Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Edited by Abbie Griffin and Stephen Somermeyer

2 456 The PDMA ToolBook 3 The BOK provides the following important benefits to the PDMA community: Generally agreed-to definitions and summaries of important concepts, tools, methodologies, processes, and so on to promote better use and more widespread adoption of practices that improve product development effectiveness. Access to best-of related reference information around key knowledge areas to minimize the time needed to search for deeper information and to further promote continuous learning. Linkage to the latest writing, presentations, and discussion forums provides a way to learn about leading edge concepts and innovations in the application of current and new practices. What is the Scope of the Body of Knowledge? The body of knowledge covers all aspects of product development and management across the entire lifecycle from opportunity generation and strategy through product launch and on to product iteration and renewal. Product development management strategy setting, planning, organizing, resourcing, prioritizing, researching, scheduling, renewing, recycling, retiring, enabling, supporting, measuring, improving, collaborating for products and services, portfolios, and a company s entire product development program. Product development operations generating, defining, designing, testing, validating, prototyping, modeling, building, developing, provisioning, sourcing, maintaining, changing, and so forth. It does not include those areas of product and operations management that are directed primarily to existing products such as the management of ongoing promotion, advertising, branding, pricing, distribution, and customer support (but does address these topics as related to new product development). Specifically, What Can Be Found? The body of knowledge is a growing, dynamic work. The most recent release already includes extensive glossary definitions, processes, organizational approaches, practices, tools, methodologies, academic research, and metrics, along with many helpful references for obtaining further information. Future releases are expected to include case examples from conferences and discussion forums, as well.

3 I. The PDMA's Body of Knowledge 457 Where Can It Be Found? The body of knowledge currently exists in the form of a Web site. It can be accessed through the PDMA s main Web site ( or directly through its own URL ( The Web site contains an easy-to-use visual navigation system based on the matrix shown in Exhibit 1. Many of the topics and references contain hyperlinks to important content found elsewhere in the BOK as well as in other important related Web sites, including sites for the Journal of Product Innovation Management (JPIM the PDMA s highly acclaimed academic journal), Visions (the PDMA s award-winning practitioner s magazine), and the PDMA/Amazon.com bookstore. While all of the current content in the BOK is fully reviewed and edited by an editorial board, the BOK team is also exploring the inclusion of a parallel wiki area in which any author can post content without official editorial approval, and only subject to peer review by other BOK users. Most of the higher-level content in the BOK is fully accessible to anyone, so long as they register on the Web site. However, only PDMA members have access to the more detailed content that lies further down within the matrix an important benefit of PDMA membership! Who Is Developing the Body of Knowledge and How Can IParticipate? The PDMA body of knowledge team has included more than 40 volunteer product development professionals (NPDPs) from a broad cross-section of companies. We are continuously soliciting additions and expansions from the PDMA community at large. The body of knowledge Web site offers full attribution to contributors. Authors names and contact information are included for each of the knowledge areas in order to promote feedback, to suggest new content, and to seek volunteers to develop additional topics. BODY OF KNOWLEDGE ARCHITECTURE The architecture or organization scheme for the PDMA body of knowledge is displayed pictorially as a matrix consisting of six rows and three columns (see Exhibit 1). This architecture provides a foundation upon which to capture and organize knowledge about new product and service development. It encompasses three macro phases of the product development life cycle as shown in the columns of the matrix: the front end (Discovery), the middle (Development), and the back end (Commercialization). Within each phase, knowledge is organized around six key knowledge areas, as shown in the rows of the matrix. Finally, within each cell of this matrix, the content can, in many cases, be further broken down into topics that apply to individual products or projects versus those that apply to an entire business or portfolio

4 458 The PDMA ToolBook 3 of products. Each of these major phases and knowledge areas are described next. THE PHASES Discovery Phase This first phase is primarily about discovery. It covers the entire process of searching for and identifying opportunities whether market-based or technology-based and all of the planning and strategy to accomplish this. It requires the identification of customer needs, problems, and benefits, and development of the conceptual features that are envisioned for the products it wishes to build. It ends with the publication of a formal product specifications document. This phase is sometimes referred to as the fuzzy front end or the front end of innovation. Development Phase This second phase is primarily about realization. It covers the entire process of converting specifications into specific features, designs, and platforms whether for an individual product or a complete portfolio of products and all of the tasks necessary to accomplish this. It usually requires detailed resourcemanagement,creative engineering and process design capabilities, and sophisticated information technology. It ends when the products or services achieve their first commercial availability. Commercialization Phase This third phase is primarily about fulfillment. It covers the entire process of new product introduction and the organization s management of its product and service portfolio as it attempts to fulfill its financial potential. It ends when the products or services have reached the end of their useful lifecycle and are to be considered as candidates for retirement, renewal, and regeneration. At this stage, the process begins anew with the undertaking of a new product development initiative, and a return to the Discovery Phase. THE KNOWLEDGE AREAS Customer and Market Research This knowledge area includes anything having to do with bringing external insight into product innovation, development, and growth especially insight

5 I. The PDMA's Body of Knowledge 459 about customers (both buyers and end users), but also information about channels, competitors, markets, alternatives, and the overall environment. This includes gathering and scanning for this information as well as processing, analysis, storage, and use. It includes going to outsiders for insight, validation, confirmation, and feedback. It includes the gleaning of insights from primary as well as secondary sources. Technology and Intellectual Property Anything having to do primarily with the invention, development, acquisition, licensing, and management of the technologies and intellectual property (IP) that enable and become part of products is included in this topic area. To the extent that commercializing a technology means creating new products, then that would be dealt with by the larger BOK. But topics such as planning for technology commercialization would be in this row. Strategy, Planning, and Decision Making This topic includes anything having to do primarily with strategies, plans, and decision making around product innovation, development, and growth. These would include strategies, plans, and decision making at the business level (as it relates to product innovation, development, and growth), as well as for platforms, product lines or product families, and individual products. The focus is on business, platform, and product planning as opposed to planning for marketing, operations, or customer support, which would be captured in process, execution & metrics. This row would include strategy and planning around resource capacity and throughput management across multiple projects (pipeline resource management), since resourcing is part of decision making. Strategy, planning, and decision making for technologies would be included in the technology and IP knowledge area. People,Teams,andCulture Anything having to do with the people side of product development across the NPD lifecycle including organization/team structures, people management, skills development, culture, organization change management, and human interaction is included in this knowledge area. Codevelopment and Alliances This knowledge category includes anything having to do primarily with innovation, development, and growth activities that take place in unison with external

6 460 The PDMA ToolBook 3 partners of all sorts including customers, suppliers, service providers, and channels. This would include codevelopment or development chain strategy, partner management, codevelopment execution processes, and codevelopment teams, for example. Even if the topic might fall into another row, if the focus is on this activity in a codevelopment context, then information on it would be found in this row primarily. Process, Execution, and Metrics Anything having to do with the operational dimension of product innovation, development, and growth will be found in this knowledge topic. This row does not include processes and tools for customer/market input, technology/ip management, strategy and planning, people management, and codevelopment. It does include processes and tools for requirements development and management, design, manufacturing, supply chain, (engineering) change management, channel management, pricing, positioning, promotion, financial management, and customer support. This row would include process and performance management in general, including metrics and benchmarks for product innovation, development, and growth. THE CELLS For each of the 18 cells in the BOK matrix, there is an overall cell description, along with a list of references and subtopics (these subtopics are referred to as In-Depth Knowledge or IDKs). Following is an example of one of the 18 cell descriptions: EXAMPLE: CUSTOMER AND MARKET RESEARCH / DISCOVERY PHASE In the discovery phase, the primary focus of customer and market research is to identify customer needs. These needs, which may or may not have already been addressed, and which the customer may or may not even be aware of, help define the goals and performance parameters, as well as the target market, for a potential new product. There are many processes and market research tools available for identifying customer needs, ranging from the very general such as focus groups and surveys, which can be used for a wide variety of objectives, to highly specific techniques such as Voice of the Customer, Lead User Analysis, Attribute Testing, and Conjoint Analysis, which address more targeted objectives. Market research methods can be categorized as qualitative or quantitative in terms of the types of data collected and analytical techniques required. Key decisions must be made in preparation for any market research initiative: Who to study: designing a sample. How to study them: in groups vs. individually.

7 I. The PDMA's Body of Knowledge 461 Where to study them: in their normal environment or in a structured setting. How many to study: a small sample studied in depth vs. a large sample that allows for the generalization of the results to the entire population of interest with statistical confidence. What the research objectives are: to help guide the research design and/or questionnaire development. How to capture the information: recording and coding of data. How to analyze the information: compiling, extracting, organizing, drawing conclusions from the data, and presenting them. In-Depth Knowledge Topics _ Conjoint analysis _ Ethnography _ Individual depth interviews _ Lead user research _ Quantitative market research _ Shadowing _ Voice of the Customer: needs identification REFERENCES Concept Testing Developing an Effective Concept Testing Program for Consumer Durables, JPIM 9:267 _ 277 (1992), Page, A. L. and Rosenbaum, H. F. Provides a step-by-step description of the development of a concept test and its use. Anschuetz, Ned F ``Evaluating Ideas and Concepts for New Consumer Products.««In The PDMA Handbook of New Product Development. Ed. M.D. Rosenau, New York: John Wiley & Sons, pp. 195 _ 206. A good compact description of how to conduct Concept Testing for consumer products. Paul, Ronald N ``Evaluating Ideas and Concepts for New Business-to- Business Products.««InThe PDMA Handbook of New Product Development. Ed. M.D. Rosenau. New York: John Wiley & Sons, pp. 207 _ 216. A good compact description of how to conduct Concept Testing for business-to-business products. Market Research Tools Cohen, Steven H ``Tools for Quantitative Market Research.««InThe PDMA Handbook of New Product Development. Ed. M.D. Rosenau. New York: John Wiley & Sons, pp. 253 _ 267. A good overview of a number of quantitative market research tools and where they fit into the product development process.

8 462 The PDMA ToolBook 3 Davis, R. E ``From Experience: The Role of Market Research in the Development of New Consumer Products.««JPIM 10: 309 _ 317. A practitioner's overview of where and how market research fits into the development process for consumer products. Redesigning Product Lines with Conjoint Analysis: How Sunbeam Does it, JPIM 4: (June 1987), Page, A.L. and Rosenbaum, H.F. Provides an example of how a conjoint analysis technique is applied to a real product development challenge. Voice of the Customer Burchill, Gary, and Brodie, Christina Hepner Voices into Choices. Madison, WI: Joiner Publications. A complete ``how-to««guide of the process developed at the Center for Quality Management in the early 1990s. Cohen, Lou Quality Function Deployment: How to Make QFD Work for You. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing. While the main thrust of this book is on QFD, it contains many insightful suggestions on how to gather and use Voice of the Customer data. Griffin, Abbie, and Hauser, John The Voice of the Customer. Marketing Science 12(1): (Winter): 1 _ 27. The first truly empirical study of Voice of the Customer, the goal of which was to identify best practices. Katz, Gerald ``The `One Right Way«to Gather the Voice of the Customer.««PDMA Visions, 25 (2) (October). Examines all of the various trade-offs in how to go about gathering Voice of the Customer information, with the conclusion that there is no one right way. McQuarrie, Edward F Customer Visits. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. A comprehensive description of this most common way of gathering customer wants and needs. Ulwick, Anthony ``Turn Customer Input into Innovation.««Harvard Business Review, 80 (1) (January). A paper that describes the Voice of the Customer process in more managerial language (rather than product developer or market researcher language). THE IN-DEPTH KNOWLEDGE AREAS (IDKS) Finally, within each cell of the matrix, there are many pages of rich content about a myriad of in-depth knowledge (IDK) areas. Each of these includes a definition, a description, and a list of detailed references. Following is an example of an IDK:

9 I. The PDMA's Body of Knowledge 463 EXAMPLE: VOICE OF THE CUSTOMER: NEEDS IDENTIFICATION DEFINITION Voice of the Customer is a detailed set of customer wants and needs, organized into a hierarchical structure, and then prioritized in terms of relative importance and satisfaction with current alternatives. DESCRIPTION The Voice of the Customer is a market research technique consisting of both qualitative and quantitative research steps. It is generally carried out at the start of any new product, process, or service design initiative in order to better understand the customer's wants and needs, and as the key input for new product definition, quality function deployment (QFD), and the setting of detailed design specifications. Much has been written about this process, and there are many possible ways to gather the information focus groups, individual interviews, contextual inquiry, ethnographic techniques, and so on. But all involve a series of structured in-depth interviews that focus on the customers' experiences with current products or alternatives within the category under consideration. Needs statements are then extracted, organized into a more usable hierarchy, and then prioritized by the customers. It is critical that the product development core team own and be highly involved in this process. They must be the ones who take the lead in defining the topic, designing the sample (i.e., the types of customers to include), generating the questions for the discussion guide, either conducting or observing and analyzing the interviews, and extracting and processing the needs statements. A good Voice of the Customer study provides (1) a detailed understanding of the customer's requirements; (2) a common language for the team going forward; (3) key input for the setting of appropriate design specifications for the new product or service; and (4) a highly useful springboard for product innovation. REFERENCES Burchill, Gary, and, Christina Hepner Brodie Voices into Choices. Madison, WI: Joiner Publications. Griffin, Abbie, and John Hauser The Voice of the Customer. Marketing Science, 12 (1): 1 27 (Winter). Katz, Gerald, (2001). The One Right Way to Gather the Voice of the Customer. PDMA Visions, 25(2) (October). McQuarrie, Edward F Customer Visits. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Ulwick, Anthony Turn Customer Input into Innovation. Harvard Business Review, 80 (1) (January).