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GGI RapidNews R&D Product Development eZine: Volume 8, Issue 6 - June 5, 2007
GGI RapidNews is published approximately once a month.

 

In This Issue

GGI NEWS & NOTES - Biennial Product Development Survey: Innovation Tools and Techniques; New mailing date for RapidNews

MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY - Speech Technology Adepts win 5 of 7 Service Leader Awards from Customer Relationship Management Magazine 

BOOK REVIEW - Democratizing Innovation

UPCOMING PUBLIC SEMINAR - METRICS SUMMIT August 2007 Early Bird rates

THE WISDOM iSTORE FEATURED PRODUCT 40% OFF- 2004 Metrics Survey Results

THE WISDOM iSTORE NEW LISTINGS - One New Listings This Month

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

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GGI NEWS & NOTES

Biennial Product Development Survey: Innovation Tools and Techniques

GGI's new Biennial Product Development Survey will be conducted in 2007 beginning soon. The theme of this survey will be Innovation Tools and Techniques and their Frequency and Penetration of Industry. We will study how folks use  innovation tools, surveying at least 50 techniques currently available on the market.

We will also survey 75 of the most frequently used metrics in research and development/product development. For those who have participated in other surveys, this is the same section that we have done in prior years. By comparing results of each successive survey, one can see the movement in the use of various metrics over time.

Please watch future issues of RapidNews for details on how to participate in this survey.

GGI NEWS & NOTES

New mailing date for RapidNews

After eight consecutive years of sending out RapidNews on the first Wednesday of the month, we will be bringing it to you one day earlier. Effective immediately, the RapidNews will be mailed the first Tuesday of the month. As always, we welcome your comments and questions.

 

MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY

Speech Technology Adepts win 5 of 7 Service Leader Awards from Customer Relationship Management Magazine

Condensed from "The 2007 Service Awards," by Coreen Bailor, Colin Beasty, Marshall Lager, and Jessica Sebor, CRM Media, LLC, April 2007, Vol. 11, No. 4, pages 23-44, published by CRM Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Information Today, Inc., Medford, NJ.

Those of you who are in the services industries may be especially interested in this piece.

Speech technology heavily influenced the results of CRM magazine's 2007 Service Awards, notes Editorial Director David Myron. In fact, five of the magazine's seven Service Leader Award categories incorporate speech technology. The categories and their associated winner were:

  • Computer Telephony Integration, Avaya, Basking Ridge, NJ
  • Interactive Voice Response, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Daly City, CA
  • Workforce Optimization, NICE Systems, Ra'anana, Israel
  • Quality Monitoring, NICE Systems, Ra'anana, Israel
  • Outsourcing Services, Convergys, Cincinnati, OH

The two other award winners were Amdocs, St. Louis, MO, for Agent-Facing Universal Desktop, and RightNow Technologies, Bozeman, MT, for Web-Support Services.

This is CRM magazine's fourth annual review of industry innovation. Judges use a proprietary selection formula which is based on a composite score of CRM revenues, year-over-year revenue growth, and analyst ratings for satisfaction, depth of functionality, and company direction.

Click here on the CRM Service Leader Chart to view full results. Also receiving CRM Awards were five companies that won the magazine's Service Elite Award (Juniper Networks, Taylor Corporation, Bright House Networks, RXAmerica, Cars.com), three "Up-and-Comers" to watch (Digium, InQuira, VPI), and one company that won the magazine's Service Excellence Award (M2M Holdings).

 

BOOK REVIEW

Democratizing Innovation, Eric von Hippel, First MIT Press paperback edition, 2006, Copyright 2005 Eric von Hippel, ISBN 0-262-00274-4.

Not only have the advent of the Internet, the computer and enhanced communication capabilities "flattened" the world, as Thomas Friedman has so famously pointed out, they are also changing the face of product development.

Between 10 and 40 percent of end users in fields that von Hippel has studied are actively engaged in modifying the products they buy, and have historically done so. Nearly all of the most important innovations in the fields of oil refining, chemical production processes and scientific instruments were developed by end users and not the manufacturers of these products.

A second surprising fact is that upon implementing these improvements, users are likely to share their innovations with others in their industries. This happened in the 1970s with medical equipment, and in the 1990s with semiconductor processing equipment. The most recent and by far best known example of user sharing is the open source software movement of the last 1990s.

Von Hippel suggests three ways that manufacturers can work tap into this trend:

  • produce user-developed innovation for general commercial sale
  • sell kits of product-design tools to ease user's innovation related tasks
  • sell products or services that are complimentary to suer-developed innovation

Additionally, firms can systematically search for innovations created by lead users. A natural experiment conducted at 3M showed that annual sales of lead user product ideas can yield eight times higher sales than those developed in the traditional manner.

This book provides timely insight on innovation to anyone involved in product development, be they in marketing, engineers, manufacturing or management.

To learn more about Democratizing Innovation or to order the book, visit the Amazon.com Web site.

 

UPCOMING PUBLIC SEMINAR - METRICS SUMMIT August 2007 Early Bird rates

We are delighted to be offering our Metrics Summit again in August 2007. Many prior Metrics Summit participants were kind enough to share their written comments so that future participants could get a better idea of what to expect Testimonials

Early Bird rates will be effective through June 22, 2007, at EOB Pacific Time.  Discounts are available for individuals and company teams of three or more.

GGI's Product Development Metrics Summit will be held August 21-23, 2007 in Metro Boston. Please join us for a series of three seminars, focused on major areas of importance to R&D executives and managers.

GGI's Product Development Metrics Summit will be held August 21-23, 2007 in Metro Boston. Please join us for a series of three seminars, focused on major areas of importance to R&D executives and managers.

The first seminar [Measuring Product Development II (MPDDII)- August 21] addresses 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) - August 22] focuses on three stages of developing early, predictive metrics that will enable managers 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) - August 23] 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 are registering a team, you can register any number of people in one transaction.  Our site provides for the contact information for one person though and we will contact you to get the contact information for the remaining registrants.  If you are already registered, leisure time activities may be useful for planning transportation, meals, and personal time outside the Summit.

For more information please download a brochure.

 

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 and are now offering our 2004 Product Development Metrics Research Summary.

MR32h, 2004 Product Development Metrics Research Summary (Hard Copy) Goldense Group, Inc., Needham, MA, USA, ISBN 1-932468-32-2, October 2004 [149 pages] $1,430.00 [List Price $2384.00]

This survey focuses on: product selection processes and the tools employed, the intellectual property (IP) management processes and tools employed, and the top corporate R&D metrics used in industry.

The 2004 Product Development Metrics Research Summary is a 149 page report containing text and slides that describe and analyze the survey population of 202 companies. It provides interesting results regarding the methods and tools companies use to select projects and to generate innovation and/or intellectual property. It also includes the similarities, differences, and interrelationships between the product selection processes and their related IP management processes.

GGI's Featured Item changes approximately every other month and is always offered at 40% discount. To order this material, please go to GGI's Featured Item on the GGI home page.

 

THE WISDOM iSTORE NEW LISTINGS

A new item has been added to the Wisdom iStore since we last wrote. Please click on the item number for a more detailed description and ordering information.

T66  "Linked Metrics Portfolio(tm) Method," Copyright 2007 by Goldense Group, Inc., Needham, Massachusetts, USA, ISBN 1-932468-71-4, March 22, 2007 [71 pages]. $213.00 Hard Copy.

T66 presents nine Linked Metrics Portfolios(tm) created at GGI's March 2007 Metrics Summit held in Norwood, Massachusetts. Drafted by nine separate teams of participants at the summit, this document contains metrics portfolios that measure the entire R&D organization including: overall metrics, projects, functions, improvement efforts, and corporation-level metrics.

Created by Goldense Group, Inc, the Linked Metrics Portfolio is a natural fit for environments that have many projects, such as marketing, research and development, and operations. It allows project, functional, and improvement teams to identify key metrics and roll them up to the vice presidential level.

The report provides charts illustrating the logic and method of the Linked Metrics Portfolio method. The final portfolios represent a variety of industries including software, electronics, health management, pharmaceutical, mechanical equipment, and hardware/software codesign.

For more information, please go to The Wisdom iStore.  T66 is specifically located in the Wisdom iStore Technical Papers section.

 

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:
Product Selection Process
Product Selection Tools
IP Management Process
IP Management Tools
Top Corporate Metrics Used in Industry RD&E

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:
Marketing Brochure
Descriptive Brochure
Detailed Description of Research Topic Areas

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
2. 2004 SURVEY SUMMARY: A report of composite results, where the survey respondents are analyzed as a whole (149 pages, includes a full set of graphed answers for every survey question).
3. 2004 SURVEY RESULTS:  A report of composite results, where the survey respondents are analyzed as a whole AND five different cross-sections of the survey data contrasting Public vs Private, High Tech vs Low Tech, Big vs Small Revenues, Large Number of Employees vs Few Employees, and Process vs Repetitive, vs Discrete vs Job Shop (313 pages, includes a full set of graphed answers for survey questions).

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
Service Providers
Professional & Trade Associations
Government Services
Travel

 

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:
Seminars
Distance Learning Centers
Colleges & Universities
Executive Education
Corporate-Sponsored Universities

The categories of conferences, seminars, and distance learning are further organized into the following subject areas:
Strategic, Knowledge & General Management
Marketing & Sales - Mechanical, Electro-Mechanical, Electrical, & Electronic
Marketing & Sales - Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, & Life Sciences
Product Development - Mechanical, Electro-Mechanical, Electrical, & Electronic
Product Development - Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, & Life Sciences
Manufacturing & Automation - Mechanical, Electro-Mechanical, Electrical, & Electronic
Manufacturing & Automation - Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, & Life Sciences
Software, Internet & IT
Project Management
Metrics

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.

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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.