Which comes first, the org chart or the development process?
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| Freedom from
Project Surprises Newsletter - Issue #52 |
August 2009 |
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Which
came first - the org chart or the development process? I am certain
that just about everyone would indicate the org chart came first.
Organizational structure first and then the processes are defined and
mapped into that structure. Think about that and what it means - is
that really the best approach for an ideal development process, one
where the objective is generating profitable revenue? This month's
newsletter will challenge your thinking about creation of the
development process.
Be open minded, consider alternatives and dream of new possibilities.
Jeff Jorvig, The IC Coach
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News of Interest to New Product
Development Teams
- Review all the DAC
chatter and article/blog links by
searching for the #46DAC tag on twitter.
- New blog post: The Big Secret - Cost of Inefficiencies
- Is synchronization
of
register information between firmware, design, verification
and documentation a huge headache? I have a solution that will remove
the pain - contact me for details.
- In need of a simple yet effective way to
develop, manage and monitor your new product workflow? Check out this web based solution to managing your NPD/NPI
process here and be in control of your
development activities.
- Check out our quick
start instant downloads for managing design
projects.
Leadership Quote of the month:
"A
leader is best when people barely know he exists, not so good when
people obey and acclaim him, worse when they despise him....But of a
good leader who talks little when his work is done, his aim fulfilled,
they will say, 'We did it ourselves'"
-- Lao Tzu |
What is the Focus of your Development
Process?
Consider
the development process you use today and how it was derived. Was it a
broad-spectrum view of what needs to happen to generate new product
revenue or was it a set of processes derived by each of the
organizational entities within your business? Taking an honest,
unbiased assessment will most likely yield the latter approach as the
most correct answer.
Assuming the processes were created in each
of the organizational towers, what do you believe the focus for each
process was? Honestly, it depends on the function of each. In design
the focus was on a tapeout. In product engineering it was product
qualification. In test it was development of characterization and final
test programs and hardware. For project management it is the
development of a timeline, cost analysis, a business case and the steps
to synchronize everyone. Marketing is paying attention to customer
requirements and what it takes to secure the socket win. And of course
business/operations is paying attention to revenue, margin and the
timeline.
Now consider the process deliverables and interactions
for each organizational entity. Are they really aligned to the only
objective that matters - profitable revenue? So now I would ask - Is
the development processes actually focused on the business
requirements? In reality a
few members of the development team are focused on revenue while the
majority are paying attention to their more localized goals and
objectives.
 Here's
a key question to reflect upon for your organization - Is the
development process supporting the organizational structure or is the
organizational structure supporting the development process? In an
organization where the development process is primary, the project
decisions, risk analysis, objectives and communications will be based
on the big picture - business revenue
priorities.
Where the organizational silos are foremost, the development processes
will be fragmented and disjointed with objective success not
consistently supporting and enabling the business revenue goals.
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Development
Process
First - Organization Second
Is your development process supporting the needs of the
business or the needs of the organization? If
there are many success stories, celebrations and goal achievements in
organizational silos while the product misses on revenue objectives,
the development process is supporting the organizational needs, not the
business. Ouch!
An ideal development process is one that
is derived to fully serve the needs of the business model as the
primary objective. Accomplishing this can only be achieved by
minimizing the organizational silo influence through a hierarchical top
down approach, yielding a top-level process that is independent of any
organizational structure influence. Please read on to learn about an
approach that will enable a development process that focuses solely on
supporting the business strategy.
Start off by identifying a
core team that can fully represent all disciplines within the
organization. Next I would suggest a establishing a dedicated room with
large sheets of paper on one wall and an ample supply of blank sticky
notes that will be used to represent the process steps. At the far left
is a new opportunity and at the far right is volume production.
 Now
with the full core team, fill in the steps between opportunity and
production using a sticky note for each, leaving any consideration of
organization out of the diagram. Place the sticky notes in order from a
flow standpoint and once agreement is reached, fill in the flow with
lines and arrows.
This activity may span a several week period
through multiple sessions. I would suggest others outside the core team
to have "read" access to the room. However, any changes proposed from
outside the core team must be handled through a core team member during
a regular session.
Once this activity is completed and consensus
is reached the final top level process can be captured and farmed out
into the individual organizational entities for detailed process
development, again using the same approach. The next level of the
process must fully support the top-level process within each of the
silos, paying particular attention to areas where cross-organizational
flow is required.
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| How I
can Help
"Providing solutions to the systemic project challenges that
quietly steal early revenue opportunity"
- Discovery
& Solution -
Do you need to find and remove the the barriers to a predictable and
streamlined new product flow? Maybe you need to understand the history
of past failed project activities. Our Discovery & Solution services
provide the results you need.
- Are you short
on resources? I can provide Design Engineering, IC Design Team
Leadership, Process Improvement Leadership and Project Management
services.
- Process
streamlining -
Is something in your new product workflow troubling you? Does your
development process need an improved focus on revenue generation? I
will work with your organization to engineer a solution.
- Requirements
workshops
- I will facilitate the timely closure of a high quality set of
requirements for a specific product. If you have a complicated project
where requirements closure is critical, this would be an ideal
candidate for a workshop. More information can be found here.
- NPD team one day workshop to improve planning, execution and monitoring skills for
design projects.
- Web based NPD workflow management.
- Ready made downloads:
schedule, checklist, analog design guide.
- Increase management bandwidth via Virtual Design Manager.
- Full listing of common services here.
Contact me today via email, 480-895-0478 or
877-895-0478 |
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Feedback
To increase the value of this newsletter for you I would like
to hear your comments.
- What do you like or not like about this
newsletter?
- What subjects would you like to see covered in
the future?
- How is the format?
- Ask me a question related to new product
development and I will anonymously post and answer it here in this
section.
Please email me here with any questions,
comments or suggestions that will help me better serve my readers. I
would enjoy hearing from you.
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