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GGI RapidNews R&D Product Development eZine: Volume 8, Issue 2 - February 7, 2007
In This Issue GGI NEWS & NOTES - Staff Updates MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY - GGI Opens "Public Library" on its Home Page MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY-Ocean Tomo offers On-Line Catalogue for April IP Auction MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY - "The Happiness Factor" BOOK REVIEW - The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Successful Strategies for Products that Win BOOK REVIEW - Mind Set! Reset Your Thinking and See the Future UPCOMING PUBLIC SEMINAR - Mar07 R&D-Product Development Metrics Summit UPCOMING PUBLIC SEMINAR - May07 Innovation Summit - Early Bird Rates THE WISDOM iSTORE FEATURED PRODUCT - Primary Research on Product Selection, IP, and Top Corporate Metrics. THE WISDOM iSTORE NEW LISTINGS - 5 New Products BIENNIAL PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT SURVEY - 2004, 2002, 2000, 1998 Results GATEWAYS TO KNOWLEDGE - A Monthly Feature CALENDAR OF INDUSTRY EVENTS - A Monthly Feature TELEVISION EVENTS - Alexander Haig's World Business Review --------------------------------------------------------------------- GGI NEWS & NOTES - Staff Updates We are pleased to announce the addition of another staff member. Ian K. Walter will be providing IT support at GGI and will also serve as a Principal Web Developer. Ian is a junior at Bentley College where he is studying computer information systems. His previous experience includes IT Support at TechTarget, a technology media firm based in Needham, MA.
MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY GGI Opens "Public Library" We are pleased to announce the opening of a "Public Library" on our home page. This new feature will provide the reader access to top books in all areas of process and technology integration. To enter, simply click on the new GGI Book Store icon located in the center of our GGI Home Page. Or, please enter the GGI Book Store directly at GGI Book Store. Contained within the library are various "Wings" devoted to specific topics. The following Wings are currently open and operational.
Each Wing contains a list of the Top 10 books, as judged by your friendly RapidNews Editorial Staff, in that category as well as others that have been published over the past two decades. Live links to on-line booksellers allow readers to conveniently order any of the listed publications. As the library is a work-in-process, more Wings will be announced in the coming months. They will include:
MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY Ocean Tomo offers On-Line Catalog for April IP Auction Excerpt from ag-ipnews.com, AGIPNEWS3915, 1/2/07 08:20 GMT, "Ocean Tomo Spring 2007 Live IP Auction Catalogue Now Available." Ocean Tomo, an intellectual capital merchant bank, has posted an on-line catalogue for its upcoming Intellectual Property auction. Specific product categories included in the sale are:
The event will also feature a newly-added "Technology Expo" where IP Auction sellers, The Dean's List(tm) Online IP Exchange sellers, Ocean Tomo partners, and sponsoring companies will showcase their IP directly to potential buyers and investors. For more information on the Spring 2007 IP Auction, visit the Ocean Tomo Web site.
MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY The Happiness Factor Excerpt from "Economics discovers its feelings: Not quite as dismal as it was," The Economist, December 23rd, 2006 - January 5th, 2007, Volume 381, Number 8509, pages 33-35, published by The Economist Newspaper Limited, New York, NY, USA, ISSN 0013-0613. In a bit of divergence from our typical Management Productivity themes, we would like to review a recent article that appeared in The Economist on the subject of happiness. According to leading economists, the saying "Money can't buy happiness" is only half right. For example, national surveys show that the rich are generally happier than the poor, but that rich countries do not get happier as they get richer. The Japanese, for example, are much better off now than in 1950, but the proportion who say they are "very happy" has not changed. Furthermore, doing well is not enough: we also want to do better than our peers. Top British civil servants tend to live long than their underlings, regardless of other differences in lifestyle, according to the "Whitehall II" studies. This survey has monitored the health of various levels of government employees since the 1980s. Other research shows that happiness springs from the expected sources, but that a fortunate few find it at work. A study by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi of Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA, shows that people are are their happiest when eating, carousing or puttering around in the garden. But some people find deep satisfaction in their work. This happy state, called "flow," arises most often in work that:
Click to The Economist Web site for more information about this article.
BOOK REVIEW The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Successful Strategies for Products that Win, by Steven Gary Blank, Cafepress.com, 2006. Copyright by Steven G. Blank, ISBN 0-9764707-0-5. Don't let this book's simple font or the lack of back cover credits fool you. Blank really knows his stuff when it comes to new product and business development. An entrepreneur, business strategist, and retired Silicon Valley marketing executive, Blank has eight startups to his credit, five of which were successful. By the time he had founded his last startup (E.piphany, an enterprise software company), Blank determined that the new companies that survive do not follow the traditional product-centric launch model. Rather,they use a "Customer Development" model that:
The Customer Development model allows for several iterations of each step if necessary. "It's OK to mess up if you plan to learn from it," Blank says. Filled with concrete examples, we recommend this book to anyone writing a business, marketing or sales plan. To learn more about The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Successful Strategies for Products that Win, go to Amazon.com.
BOOK REVIEW Mind Set! Reset Your Thinking and See the Future, by John Naisbitt, Collins, 2006, Copyright October 3, 2006 by John Naisbitt, ISBN-10: 0-06-113688-3. After a seven-year hiatus, futurist John Naisbitt has published a new book,this one revealing his techniques for predicting trends. In Mind Set! Reset Your Thinking and See the Future, Nasibitt explains his 11 most effective forecasting tools. (These were among the techniques that he used to research his best sellers Megatrends (1982) and Megatrends 2000 (1990)). These techniques include:
For example, the need to be right can hamper progress, and this is particularly true in the political and medical arenas, Naisbitt said. Stubborn thinking can constrain a leader's ability to solve problems. We recommend this insightful book to finance, marketing and product development executives. It is easy to read and would be of interest to anyone curious about future trends. For more information on Mind Set! Reset Your Thinking and See the Future, go to Amazon.com.
UPCOMING PUBLIC SEMINAR - METRICS SUMMIT Mar07 We are delighted to be offering our Metrics Summit again in March 2007. Many prior Metrics Summit participants were kind enough to share their written comments about the Metrics Summit so that future participants could get a better idea of what to expect. Testimonials. GGI's Product Development Metrics Summit will be held March 20 - 22, 2007 in Metro Boston. Please join us for a series of three seminars, focused on three major areas of importance to R&D executives and managers. The first seminar [Measuring Product Development II (MPDDII)- March20] addresses the subjects of setting hurdle rates, assessing risk and complexity, tradeoff analysis, measuring capacity, and assessing overall financial performance. Click here to view the MPDII abstract or to download the table of contents. The second seminar [Proactive and Predictive R&D Metrics (PPRD) - March 21) focuses on three different stages of developing early, predictive metrics that will enable manager to foresee issue on the horizon or to know that success is in front of them. Click to view the PPRD abstract or to download the table of contents. The third seminar, a capstone, [Product Development Metrics Portfolios (PDMP) - March 22] covers the areas of metrics for R&D and product development that are not discussed in the prior two seminar days and then shifts focus. Company teams gather and working groups form around Innovator, Innovator/Extender, Balanced, And Extender R&D strategies for the purpose of developing a set of measures for the R&D organization as a whole, including the few measures that should be used by the corporation to measure R&D productivity, output, and overall performance results. Click to view the PDMP abstract or to download the table of contents. All three seminars are geared to executives and top-level professionals that manage entire organizations, departments, and budgets. It is also of benefit to senior program management executives. Registration is easy. If you represent a team, you can register any number of people in one transaction. Please note, however, that the site accepts only a single name for a team registration. We will contact you for the information for the remaining registrants. Once you register, leisure time activities are provided regarding transportation, meals and personal time outside of the Summit.
UPCOMING PUBLIC SEMINAR - INNOVATION SUMMIT May07 - Early Bird Rates GGI will sponsor its R&D--Product Development Innovation Summit on May 15-17, 2007 in metro Boston. Please join us for eight comprehensive modules that surround the subject of Innovation in R&D and Product Development. Early Bird Rates and Discounts will be in effect until EOB Pacific Time, Friday March 16, 2007. The goals of the Innovation Summit are to help innovation leaders sort out "innovation processes" from "innovation tools and techniques. The Summit will review the history of innovation over the past 15 years and will inventory the range of tools, techniques, and software available today. All of this will be put in a context so that specific action may be taken to improve a company's inventive abilities. The Innovation Modules are:
All modules feature some level of case study discussion and include examples from a range of industries. There will be three group exercises to practice well-regarded innovation methodologies. As with all GGI Summits, we will pave the road for you to direct the selection and implementation of tools and process that will bring leverage to your organization. Discounts are available for teams of two or more people attending from the same company. If RN readers are planning on attending, please register now for the Innovation Summit. For more details on the Product Development Summit, please go to GGI's Innovation Summit web site which is also available on our home page. If you are already registered, our leisure time activities page may prove useful for planning transportation, meals, and personal time outside the Summit.
THE WISDOM iSTORE FEATURED PRODUCT Discounted Item: Periodically, GGI's iStore features one item that we discount 40%. We just changed the item a few days ago. For the first time we are discounting our primary research report, including research on product selection, intellectual property, and top corporate metrics, that we performed in 2004 and published in 2005.MR34h "GGI 2004 Product Development Metrics Survey Results (Hard Copy)" Goldense Group, Inc., Needham, MA, USA December 23, 2005 [313 pages] $3005.00 [List Price $5008.00] Results of the research are offered in three reports of increasingly detailed description and analysis: Research Highlights (MR31), Research Summary (MR32), and Research Results (MR34). These three separate reports provide, respectively, an executive summary, middle-management-lever, and detail level view of the survey data. The 2004 Product Development Metrics Research Results (MR34) is a 313-page report that quantifies the most common multi-step processes and product selection tools used in North America in the product selection process. It details the management processes used in IP management and describes how respondents register, document, sell, and manage their IP inventory. The research also reports the top two metrics used in Industry RD&E, and notes the increasing use of 28 specific metrics throughout industry. The report breaks its 202 respondent companies down into five segments and analyzes which product selection practices, IP practices, and metrics they use. The segments include: Public vs. Private Companies; Smaller vs. Larger Companies; Process vs. Repetitive/Discrete vs. Job Shop Companies; Higher vs. Lower Technology Companies; and Companies with More vs. Fewer Employees. GGI's Feature Item changes approximately every other month and is always offered at 40% discount. To order this material, please go to GGI's Featured Item.
THE WISDOM iSTORE NEW LISTINGS - 5 New Products Five new items have been added to the Wisdom iStore since we last wrote. Please click on the item number for a more detailed description and ordering information. T65 "Innovation's Growing Impact On: Strategy, Tactics & Metrics," Copyright 2006 by Goldense Group, Inc., Needham, Massachusetts, USA, ISBN 1-932468-73-0, November 7, 2006, [65 pages]. $198.00 Hard Copy. A new baseline for innovation benchmarking is developing in industry today. Business Week's Second Annual ranking of the 25 top innovative companies (April 24, 2006), is the beginning of this emerging definition. Among new indicators are product/storefront design (witness Apple computer and IKEA), and the broadening of the definition of innovation itself (with some companies remaking their supply chains, sales channels, and even their business models.) T65 presents the results of a global benchmarking study conducted by GGI on what top management can do to foster innovative and strategic culture/behavior in its organization. It also provides seven tangible techniques for senior managers to encourage productive corporate climates. Additionally, the report presents primary market research on the tactics most companies use in their product development process, such as Voice of the Customer, product specification techniques, and FMEA. The paper lists the top six innovation tools used out of 21 surveyed. In 2006, GGI conducted additional primary research related to an emerging group of tools designed to foster innovation, fifty-six of which are now in existence. The paper also discusses several senior management decision areas such as cost of ownership, length of time to learn, and cost of acquisition. The paper concludes with a list of the top 30 metrics used by companies to measure innovative behavior, including average case expense cost per project/product, and percent of ideas/concepts accepted or rejected. For more information, please go to The Wisdom iStore. T65 is specifically located in the Wisdom iStore Technical Papers section.
This article provides a brief history of the evolution of innovation tools and techniques from the 1970's through the early 2000's. It discusses the rapid creation and obsolescence of new tool offerings as the demand for tools rose dramatically in the early phases of the innovation market. The 56 innovation tools that are currently available today are categorized into four groups. Parameters regarding pricing, cost of ownership, length of time to learn, manual verses software, and relative value are discussed. The article concludes with comments on measurement of innovation and measure of innovation. For more information, please go to The Wisdom iStore. A66 is specifically located in The Wisdom iStore Article section.
A67 "Can Innovation Be Taught?" Copyright 2006 by Machine Design, Cleveland, OH, USA, November 22, 2006, [1 page]. $30.00 Hard Copy. This article provides a brief history of Western efforts to spur innovation and lists some of the more established techniques that have developed over the decades. It also reviews the 57 most common innovation tools in use today and categorizes them into four levels. Each successive level is characterized by an ever increasing use of domain knowledge within the organization. Costs for various tools and techniques are also summarized. For a copy of the article, please go to The Wisdom iStore. A67 is located in the Wisdom iStore Articles section.
This article explores the many aspects of portfolio management and the beneficial role it plays in new product development and R&D projects. Boeing's Ben Almojuela's insight to successful portfolio management is noted. Almojuela shares the essential elements that define portfolio management and lays out its benefits in relation to key areas of product development. Additionally, Almojuela identifies essential tools for enabling portfolio management. A case study conducted by The Adept Group is also noted. This study illustrates process component grouping and the role it plays in portfolio management. Through process component grouping a framework is set up that allows for different stages of development to be experienced. Another study discussed in the article pertains to portfolio management and its direct effects on product development performance. Topics include: Time-to-Market, development efficiency and overall strategic impact. The article concludes with key points for developing portfolio management. GGI's Bradford Goldense offers insight on the importance of portfolio management. Noting key decision-making tips as well as portfolio benchmarks, Mr. Goldense expresses key points useful to putting together a successful portfolio. For a copy of the article, please go to The Wisdom iStore. Q29 is located in The Wisdom iStore Quotations section.
Q30 Patrick Mahoney, "The Best Of The Best: The Consumer Service Honor Roll," Copyright November 22, 2006, Machine Design, Penton Publishing, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, Volume 78, Number 22, Pages 78-82, [3 Pages], ISSN 0024-9114. $30.00. Hard Copy. This article celebrates extraordinary customer service efforts by the personnel at RAF Automation and MicroMo Electronics. Every year a panel of Machine Design judges chooses among multiple nominees to select the most customer-friendly companies. Whether a buyer orders standard off-the-shelf part or custom goods, they want the same level of attention to their needs, explains Bradford L. Goldense, CEO of Goldense Group, Inc., and a panel judge. The article notes that when the Solon, Ohio-based RAF Automation got a weekend call from a customer, it proved itself to be a "start-to-finish" distributor, working to solve the problem. At a second company, a customer service representative from MicroMo (Clearwater, Florida), was able to help a customer maintain its project schedule by scouring MicroMo's inventory of off-the-shelf gearmotors after determining that the custom part the customer needed would take several weeks to manufacture and deliver. The article lists the top 16 companies nominated for the award and discusses the traits that distinguish these companies from their competition. For a copy of the article, please go to The Wisdom iStore. Q30 is located in the
BIENNIAL METRICS SURVEY RESULTS 2004 Product Development Metrics Survey - Product Selection, IP Management, and Top Corporate Metrics: The Summary Report (MR32h) and Highlights Report (MR31h) for GGI's 2004 Biennial Product Development Metrics Survey are now available for purchase by the public through GGI's Wisdom iStore. These reports are completely based on primary research performed by GGI researchers. The research includes 202 respondent companies. There was a 5% response rate. McKinsey & Company, Texas Instruments, Rockwell, Kimberly Clark, JDS Uniphase, Shure, Curtiss Wright Flight Systems and Datacard are representative of companies that purchase market research from GGI. The 2004 Survey focused on the following five areas of product selection and IP management: We have already shared many results with GGI RapidNews readers since we began this line of business in 1998. 2004 Survey results ran in six RN issues, RN V5I11 - RN V6I5, which may be found in the RN archives, along with results from prior years. Some additional complimentary information about the survey is available: The three commercial versions of the survey results that we currently offer for public purchase are: 1. 2004 SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS: A text-only report (75 pages), including the full text of all the results and analysis of the survey population analyzed as a whole, and Individual sections of the research reports, as well as logical combinations of sections are also available. All reports are available in printed or electronic versions. These reports are available in the Market Research section of GGI's Wisdom iStore. 2002, 2000, 1998 Product Development Metrics Survey: The Summary and Highlights Reports for GGI's prior Biennial Product Development Metrics Surveys are also available for purchase by the public through GGI's Wisdom iStore. These reports are completely based on primary research performed by GGI researchers. Information about the purpose and focus of prior surveys may be found in our biennial survey archives.
GATEWAYS TO KNOWLEDGE GTK- Gateway To Knowledge is a DIRECTORY OF THOUSANDS OF LINKS to providers of engineering, purchasing, and manufacturing technologies and services. If you hit the right subjects, it is more useful than a search engine! The "main entrance" to GTK can be found at: http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/gateway/index.shtml For those of you that do not want to go through the main entrance above, some of the Gateways that we believe you will find useful or entertaining are highlighted below. Technology Providers
CALENDAR OF INDUSTRY EVENTS GGI's Calendar of Industry Events contains an up-to-date listing of links to Conferences, Seminars, Distance Learning Centers, Colleges & Universities, Executive Education, and Corporate-Sponsored Universities. The calendar has just been updated with 60 upcoming conferences and seminars throughout 2007. The categories we follow are: The categories of conferences, seminars, and distance learning are further organized into the following subject areas: If you are looking for a conference or other learning opportunity, check out the Calendar. This free service for our readers is front and center on GGI's Home Page. Or, go directly to the Calendar of Industry Events MEGA Gateway.
TELEVISION EVENTS Alexander Haig's World Business Review: Brad Goldense has made several appearances on Alexander Haig's World Business Review. Streaming video is available for all shows, which aired on August 4, September 29 and December 15, 2002 and on May 20, 2003. See below for details. May 20, 2003 Broadcast of September 29th In-Studio with Alexander Haig (22.5 minutes): Streaming video for this segment is available on GGI's web site. December 15, 2002 In-Studio with Alexander Haig (7.5 minutes) on CNBC paid programming: Streaming video for this segment is available on GGI's web site. September 29, 2002 In-Studio with Alexander Haig (22.5 minutes): Streaming video for this segment (as well as the entire 30-minute show) is available on GGI's web site. August 4, 2002 On-Location at GGI (3.5 minutes): This On-Location field report is available in streaming video on GGI's web site. The web page includes links to download a streaming video player, if you do not currently have one installed on your computer. For more information on any of Brad's appearances on television, go to: http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/ggi-goldense-product-development-tv-television-broadcast.shtml. --------------------------------------------------------------------- GGI RapidNews is an e-mail publication from Goldense Group, Inc (GGI). Its subject matter includes survey findings, company news, book and article reviews, key industry conferences and R&D information of interest to clients and associates. Please send communications to rn(at)goldensegroupinc.com. Thank you. | |||