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7 Ti ps to Speed Ti me to Innovati on
7 Tips to Speed Time to Innovation
Jim Brown
I read recently that 81% of
CEOs f eel that speed to
market in product
development ef f orts is a
critical business innovation
tactic. The only thing that
surprises me about that
number is that its so low. I
think it should be closer
100%.
Hitting the market in a timely
manner supports pricing,
prof it margin, and market
share goals. And f or those
with f ixed market windows
like a toy maker f acing the
winter holidays, f or example
time to market is table
stakes. To quote one
consumer goods
manuf acturer, you cant
negotiate with Christmas.
I recently developed research that gets to the heart of accelerating
time to market, with goals any organization should work toward to
boost product development perf ormance. Id like to delve into those
goals and discuss how they can work to the advantage of a product
organization seeking to bring innovative products to market.
One f act we uncovered is that many product organizations are trying to make do with technology that was
never intended to stretch as f ar as it is being f orced to and the organizations are suf f ering. Many, if not
most, are using spreadsheets and desktop project management tools to manage their product portf olios.
Balancing these complicated portf olios with their many-to-many relationships between products and launch
windows requires a lot of coordination. Optimizing plans is very dif f icult to do with f ragmented inf ormation
and inconsistent product data. Spreadsheets are wonderf ul tools. But not f or this job.
What we and other experts recommend is product portf olio management (PPM) solutions, which can help
by providing cohesive inf ormation and visually communicating priorities and dependencies between
products. Leveraging a PPM solution and its attendant processes can help product teams get innovative
products to market f aster by streamlining and automating development, eliminating wishf ul thinking and
brute f orce in f avor of discipline and strategy.
So how can Product Development leverage portf olio management as a f oundation f or innovation and to
support time to market requirements?
They can use it to:
1. Get the right ideas in the funnel. When ideas are generated and captured, product and portf olio
managers can vet ideas on the basis of strategic alignment, potential value, risk, and resource availability,
bef ore adding them to the pipeline. This ensures that resources arent wasted on ideas that may in one
way be sound but in another way are not high enough value.
2. Diligently balance plans with available resource capacity. This is what it comes down to f or so many
of us: resources vs. demand. Those who lack visibility into both are essentially f lying blind. The right
solution and processes help product managers know who can do what, when and whats headed their
way. This helps them create a portf olio correctly weighted f or innovation and other projects.
3. Ruthlessly prioritize investments and develop realistic, balanced plans. The squeaky wheel. The
latest craze. The VPs whim. Weve all been there, adding an enhancement or a whole new product to the
lineup just because someone is yelling the loudest. We all know its no way to run a product line. With
portf olio management giving insight into the f ull line f ledgling ideas to cash cows portf olio managers
have a way to objectively assess which projects are a good use of their scarce resources, and which quite
simply are not.
4. Make plan priorities and launch windows highly visible, and openly communicate status and
issues. This sounds a more obvious f ix than it is and it of ten comes down to technology. Those desktop
tools werent built to support enterprise-wide and/or multi-product launches, and so this vital
communication of ten happens verbally, or via hallway-long printouts of Gantt charts that are updated by
hand and Post-it notes. Key stakeholders are of ten unaware of critical changes, and the chaos of the
ensuing catch-up is never a pretty picture.
5. Map development projects to commercialization efforts. This f ollows closely with the above.
Projects should be roadmapped with all of their dependencies clearly tracked and with appropriate launch
windows f or all commercialization programs. This ensures that any slips will give channels advanced notice
to update their commercialization plans.
6. Manage risk and uncertainty and plan to succeed (or fail) early. Risk is an inherent part of any
product initiative, and the more innovative, the riskier it is. If the plan is roadmapped well, risks and issues
may be identif ied earlier and thus mitigated more easily. Additionally, when insurmountable risk is
encountered early, the decision can be made to kill a project bef ore too much is invested; the only caveat is
that management must be on board with the kill decision. In my experience, too f ew companies kill a
development project once its already underway.
7. Standardize execution processes, deliverables, and metrics. As the saying goes, you cant manage
what you cant measure. Its startling that, in our bottom-line driven economy, 44% of companies have no
consistent and transparent way to measure the value of projects. Portf olio management processes are a
proven way f or development teams to standardize their work and by doing so strip out time and ef f ort by
eliminating rework and duplication. Many PPM solutions come with prebuilt metrics in the f orm of reports
and analytics that give insight at dif f erent levels of granularity on everything f rom time reporting to the
bottom line. Todays product organizations simply must have a way to prove the value of what they
produce. Executives should demand that.
In summary
Whats at stake in the speed to market equation? The f irst mover advantage f or some, basic survival f or
others. Product organizations have the opportunity to make some f undamental changes in how they
approach development and bring the right, innovative of f erings to market in a timely manner.
Can product organizations af f ord not to invest in a PPM solution? Yes, although I believe that the pain of
accelerating multiple, complex products through the pipe ef f iciently, as market pressures continue to grow,
will place companies without PPM solutions at a distinct disadvantage.
I would argue, however, that they cant af f ord not to implement a disciplined, end-to-end portf olio
management process, as it is this that will set the groundwork f or a well-prioritized, well-planned, and
innovative portf olio of products that hit their markets on time.
Theres much more to the story and you can download a copy of our f ree report to read more. Please let
me know what you think of these tips, and what goals your organization is working towards.
By Jim Brown
About t he aut hor

Jim Brown Founder and President of Tech-Clarity, Inc., is a recognized expert in
sof tware solutions f or manuf acturers and has 20 years of experience in application
sof tware, management consulting and industry research f ocused on the
manuf acturing industries. Jim f ounded Tech-Clarity Inc. in 2002. Since that time, Jim
has served in a research and analyst role partnering with other analyst f irms
including, Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC), The PLM Evaluation Center and
AMR Research. Additionally, Jim established Aberdeen Groups Product Innovation &
Engineering Practice af ter they acquired Tech-Clarity in 2005 and subsequently
served as VP and Group Director f or Aberdeens PLM and Manuf acturing Industry
Research Practices. In 2008, Jim established Tech-Clarity 2.0 to continue his
mission to make the value of technology clear to business in the Web 2.0 era. Jim is an experienced author
and public speaker and enjoys the opportunity to participate in conf erences about improving business
perf ormance through sof tware technology.
Image: business mechanism from Shutterstock.com
Ref erences
Read the research behind these goals and how to put them into action in Tech-Claritys Issue in Focus:
Meeting Fixed Product Launch Windows Managing Portfolios when Time-to-Market is Non-Negotiable,
brought to you by Planview.
1. Forbes, Global CXO Outlook: Growth Strategies for 2012 and Beyond,
http://images.f orbes.com/f orbesinsights/StudyPDFs/Global_CXO_Outlook.pdf
2. Tech-Claritys Issue in Focus: Meeting Fixed Product Launch Windows,
http://www.planview.com/m1/pd/f ixed-product-launch-windows/?WT.mc_id=311WP03756
3.Planview, The 3
rd
Product Portfolio Management Benchmark Study, http://www.planview.com/m1/pd/3rd-
product-portfolio-management-benchmark-study/?WT.mc_id=300RR00156
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