NPD Leadership Articles and Resources
Five Trends R&D Leadership Teams Need to Know
Innovation is crucial for any organization to compete, but many R&D teams have blinders on pursuing only technical innovation – and not necessarily making major advancements. R&D leaders put constraints on their organization’s competitive advantage by neglecting to innovate organizationally and culturally. Here are five trends that we’ve seen in
MAHD Modified Agile vs. Agile Scrum Methods
The concept of agile project management is not new, but until recently has been utilized mainly for software development. Scrum is the specific agile way-of-working used by most software teams, which involves incremental development by teams working typically in 2-week sprints. The output of each sprint is working software with
The Biggest Advantages of Agile Few People Talk About
Agile is currently one of the most widely used project management methodologies. While Agile principles and methods quickly gained traction in the software and IT industries, agile project management has developed over the years and has been established as a preferred alternative to develop products for industries ranging from automobiles
Can Agile Really Drive Innovation
Many companies realize that traditional product development methodologies limit an organization’s ability to generate breakthrough innovations because of their inflexible approach and experiment-squashing upfront planning. They emphasize linear processes and run in a sequential cycle. While Agile methods are quickly supplanting historic waterfall-style processes with their emphasis on continuous and
How to Convince Executives that Agile is a Better Way
Product development teams are under constant pressure to be faster, more efficient, and focus intensely on customer value. Using traditional development processes, you may have tried all possible strategies to structure your projects to drive the desired results, but at some point, realize there must be a better way. One
Defining Agile vs. Waterfall (Infographic)
Waterfall has traditionally been seen as a reliable approach for developing manufactured products, while the software industry moved on with agile methodologies. Two decades later, the agile approach is trending in many industries including those focused on physical, hardware-based products, bringing the scope for innovation and twenty years of learning
How Agile Fuels Manufactured Product Success
Agile has completely transformed how software companies operate, develop, and deliver software products. Gradually, industries are realizing the positive impact. Working as per customer behavior to deliver products faster, take early feedback and iterate changes, operate as per the trends, and enhance performance is becoming the norm today. And the
6 Things That Can Disrupt Your New Product Development Process
Introducing a new product into the market can be a daunting prospect, and one true sign of success comes from returning customers and satisfactory ROI. While launching a new product, you are not only looking at the potential issues you might encounter after it launches in the market but also
Kicking Off Agile Projects With The Right Focus
A critical advantage of Agile methods, especially for hardware-based projects, is getting a fast start. But how do you do this with a project charter that considers an Agile way-of-working, and without details found in typical Product Requirements Documents (PRDs)? Agile methods have great potential for speed, but teams need
Podcast: How PM Can Use the Modified Agile for HW Development w/Product Mastery Now
It was our pleasure to join Product Mastery’s Podcast to discuss the Modified Agile for Hardware Development Framework. How Product Managers Can Use the Modified Agile for Hardware Development Framework Introduction Today we are talking about using a modified version of Scrum for hardware projects. Many teams have tried adopting
Agile Leadership: Stop Predicting the Future and Create It!
“We’re agile because we do iterations and adapt to change” is a statement we often hear from business leaders who don’t have full understanding of agile methods, nor the leadership changes needed to support agility. Leadership is a complex topic because it blends such a wide range of characteristics and
Intro to Modified Agile for HW Development Podcast
It was our pleasure to join Bill Raymond for his Agile in Action podcast series to discuss the Modified Agile for Hardware Development Framework. Introduction Are you mad at your current stage-gate hardware process? Then let Dorian Simpson and Gary Hinkle introduce you to something that will make you feel
