TEI 012: Applying Lean Product Development for a 50% Time Reduction

Global Product Management Talk is pleased to bring you episode 012 of... The Everyday Innovator with host Chad McAllister, PhD. The podcast is all about helping people involved in developing and managing products become more successful, grow their careers, and STANDOUT from their peers. Our Guest:  David Paulson has over 20 years of product development experience and still remembers his first day at work. That’s when he found out how inefficient the product development process was. He’s been working to fix that ever since. Highlights from the discussion include: Apply Lean product development to cut time to market in half and create successful products – something all innovators want to know how to accomplish!Lean has many different definitions, but in the product development context, it has three specific characteristics: (1) focus on value to the customer, (2) rapidly learn, and (3) maximize desired results while minimizing effort.In addition to the benefits of creating more profitable products, applying Lean product development also impacts the organizational culture, resulting in happier and more effective employees.First time David applied Lean product development to a project, the time-to-market decreased from the expected 30 months to 12 months, finished 20% under budget, and generated an additional $3 million profit by being early to market.Good books on the topic of Lean product development are from Don Reinersten, including “Managing the Design Factory” and “The Principles of Product Development Flow.” Read “Managing the Design Factory” first.