Upload
others
View
6
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Copyright 2017 Logic PD, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Confidential.
1
Copyright 2017 Logic PD, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Confidential.
Redesigning the stage-gate transition processThe three questions every stage gate review must
answer, the three cognitive biases that stand in your
way, and the three simple changes that can fix it.
Copyright 2017 Logic PD, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Confidential.
2
The Product Review Board process:A tale of two meetings
• The “Transition Planning” meeting:
– Regularly fails to address critical issues
– Often lacks complete attendance
– Risks ending without complete alignment
• The “Emergency Review” meeting that follows:
– Raises the critical issues not discussed months
earlier (when they could have been more cost-
effectively addressed)
– Leads to frustration in the gap in expectations for
product functionality and financial performance
– Often ends in damaged internal relationships that
do not bode well for the next product
introduction
Copyright 2017 Logic PD, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Confidential.
3
Impacts of poor transitions
Poorly Received Products
Lost Revenue & Market Share
Reduced Market Perception
Damaged Organizational
Culture
Copyright 2017 Logic PD, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Confidential.
4
Root cause: PRB fantasy versus reality• The Stage Gate Process In Theory:
– Creates alignment between multiple stakeholders
– Coordinates expertise across the organization
– Provides a “single source of truth” for the product
development process
• The Stage Gate Process In Practice:
– Confuses stakeholders and diffuses accountability
– Encourages the “silo-ing” of expertise into
specific functional groups who “check the boxes”
versus cooperating and coordinating efforts
– Almost never represents truth (people don’t want
to “write it down” and be wrong)
Copyright 2017 Logic PD, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Confidential.
5
Focus: There are only three questions
• User desirability:
– Does the product still meet a customer need, or
has the market shifted since we started
development?
• Technical feasibility:
– Is the product still not only technically feasible,
but operationally feasible as well?
• Business profitability/viability:
– Can we still make money doing this?
Copyright 2017 Logic PD, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Confidential.
6
If it’s that easy, why aren’t we doing it?
The Sunk Cost Fallacy. The Misconception: You make rational decisions based on the future value of objects, investments and experiences. The Truth: Your decisions are tainted by the emotional investments you accumulate, and the more you invest in something the harder it becomes to abandon it.
Information bias is a type of cognitive bias, and involves a distorted evaluation of information. An example of information bias is believing that the more information that can be acquired to make a decision, the better, even if that extra information is irrelevant for the decision.
The framing effect is an example of cognitive bias, in which people react to a particular choice in different ways depending on how it is presented; e.g. as a loss or as a gain. People tend to avoid risk when a positive frame is presented but seek risks when a negative frame is presented.
1
2
3
Copyright 2017 Logic PD, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Confidential.
7
PRB Rx, Step 1: Redesign the meetings
• The idea:
– Realign the structure of each stage gate meeting
to formally address each of the three critical
questions
– Every stage gate must answer all three
• In practice:
– Force the categorization of all meeting topics into
one of three categories: Desirability, Feasibility,
or Viability
– The process own checks to ensure all areas are
covered at every stage gate meeting (no
exceptions and no “passes” because it is “just a
technical meeting”)
Copyright 2017 Logic PD, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Confidential.
8
Redesigned Process Example:This product is ready for transfer to manufacturing…
• User desirability:
– Do our Hipster Life Hackers still want to do their
own “lawn mower conversion”?
• Technical feasibility:
– Does our near-shore supplier actually have the
welding equipment needed and the expertise to
use it?
• Business profitability:
– Are there enough “hipster life hackers” to make it
profitable to build these?
Copyright 2017 Logic PD, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Confidential.
9
PRB Rx, Step 2: Opt-in versus opt-out
• The idea:
– Change PRB meetings from an opt-out to an opt-
in process
– In other words, you must have permission to
continue (not an objection to stop)
• In practice:
– Make the funding contingent on an affirmative
blind vote by all stakeholders
Copyright 2017 Logic PD, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Confidential.
10
Redesigned Process Example:This product is ready for transfer to manufacturing…
• The Opt-In Vote Tally:
– Design NO
– Engineering YES
– Manufacturing YES
– Supply Chain NO
– Finance NO
– Sales NO
– Marketing YES
End Result: Preliminary decision, discontinue
development.
Copyright 2017 Logic PD, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Confidential.
11
PRB Rx, Step 3: Hire an independent arbitrator
• The idea:
– An outside arbitrator helps your organization
avoid uncomfortable office politics and see
through cognitive biases
• In practice:
– Hire an outside arbitrator with expertise in the
specific transition points in question
– Avoid hiring the same arbitrator throughout
(they will develop their own biases)
Copyright 2017 Logic PD, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Confidential.
12
Redesigned Process Example:This product is ready for transfer to manufacturing…
• The arbitrator’s ruling: NO
– Design NO
– Engineering YES
– Manufacturing YES
– Supply Chain NO
– Finance NO
– Sales NO
– Marketing YES
End Result: Discontinued development, but the
Engineering, Manufacturing and Marketing groups felt heard
and validated and are ready for the next project.