product development - entrepreneurship 101 (2012/2013)
DESCRIPTION
Converting an idea or even a lab prototype into a real, customer-ready product is no simple task. Learn how to turn your idea into a successful product by following the “V-model” of concept development and how to differentiate the steps of product development.TRANSCRIPT
A trusted supplier of advanced, high performance, integrated battery systems for mission critical applications
Tell us what you need. We thrive on challenges.
All images in this presentation ©2012 Panacis Inc.
Company Background
§ Founded in 2002 § Privately owned by high-tech investor base § Located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada § R&D, prototyping, NPI, product design, and manufacturing
§ Focused on Lithium ion rechargeable energy storage systems since 2007
§ Off-the-shelf products and custom/semi-custom development for demanding applications
§ Global customer base § Strong IP portfolio
§ Covers multiple aspects of advanced energy systems including safety, manufacturing, control and applications
§ Security clearance for international military contracts
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Role of the Visionary
The Visionary drives the product idea at a high level.
How do you get that vision to the market?
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Product Development Path
It doesn’t matter how simple or complex the product is, the same basic path can be followed.
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Product Development Path
It doesn’t matter how simple or complex the product is, the same basic path can be followed.
§ Failure to have a PLAN will result in wasted time, effort and money (and possibly result in the loss of opportunity if the product fails)
§ The PLAN will result in easier development of a quality product that meets the market expectations
§ Additional benefits of a good PLAN are easier financing, recruitment and market entry.
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Unify the Team Every good product requires a team to bring it to market
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§ The team must have a COMMON VISION
Development Models
There are many different product development models, software and planning tools
§ Most plans have common steps, different names, different breakdowns, but the same basic goal of documenting the product development path
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V-Model
Cycle Model
Phase-Gate Model
What Are You Trying To Do?
Before starting the plan, ask a few questions about what you are trying to do.
§ Who Wants It?
§ Walmart, Road Warriors or Stocking Stuffer?
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What Are You Trying To Do?
Before starting the plan, ask a few questions about what you are trying to do.
§ Who Wants It?
§ Walmart, Road Warriors or Stocking Stuffer?
§ What Is It For?
§ Serious Lighting or Fun?
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What Are You Trying To Do?
Before starting the plan, ask a few questions about what you are trying to do.
§ Who Wants It?
§ Walmart, Road Warriors or Stocking Stuffer?
§ What Is It For?
§ Serious Lighting or Fun?
§ Who Pays?
§ Consumer, Industrial, Government?
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What Are You Trying To Do?
Before starting the plan, ask a few questions about what you are trying to do.
§ Who Wants It?
§ Walmart, Road Warriors or Stocking Stuffer?
§ What Is It For?
§ Serious Lighting or Fun?
§ Who Pays?
§ Consumer, Industrial, Government?
§ What is YOUR Capability?
§ Distributor, Designer, Manufacturer?
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What Are You Trying To Do?
Before starting the plan, ask a few questions about what you are trying to do.
§ Who Wants It?
§ Walmart, Road Warriors or Stocking Stuffer?
§ What Is It For?
§ Serious Lighting or Fun?
§ Who Pays?
§ Consumer, Industrial, Government?
§ What is YOUR Capability?
§ Distributor, Designer, Manufacturer?
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What Are You Trying To Do?
We are going to DESIGN a flashlight for ROAD WARRIORS for SERIOUS LIGHTING.
This will be bought by the CONSUMER directly.
We will outsource the manufacturing and distribution.
§ How do we communicate this vision to our team?
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Your Product in 4 Easy Steps
Four planning documents can encompass the entire product development in a form that is appropriate for the audience.
§ Customer / Market Requirements
§ Functional Requirements
§ Product / Engineering Specification
§ Test and Verification Specification
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Your Product in 4 Easy Steps
Four planning documents can encompass the entire product development in a form that is appropriate for the audience.
§ Customer / Market Requirements
§ Functional Requirements
§ Product / Engineering Specification
§ Test and Verification Specification
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Most Important
Your Product in 4 Easy Steps
When a product development effort is launched with only one or two of these documents in place, the end result is usually dissapointing
§ With ONLY Customer / Market Requirements document, the engineering team will tend to iterate “forever” trying to hit the technical points that make the vision match the reality
§ With ONLY Functional Requirements documents, the product may perfectly match every technical goal but will often lack the “special something” that grabs market attention, it will be a “me-too” product
§ Without the Product / Engineering Specification there will be nothing to measure against to know the design is done
§ Without the Test and Verification Specification there will be nothing to measure agaisnt to know that volume production matches the design
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Customer / Market Requirements
Focus on what the end customer wants in terms that use emotion, comparisions to other products and qualitative adjectives.
§ Generally NOT technical
§ Can be used to test the market
§ What would YOU say to a CUSTOMER and what would customers say to each other about the product?
§ Rarely has quantitative measurements
§ Example: A road warrior wants a flashlight that is incredibly durable, it can’t fail when repeatedly thrown in their luggage.
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Customer / Market Requirements
The Visionary and the Sales or Marketing leader (or business development, distributors, customers, other stakeholders etc.) use this document to come to a common vision for the product.
Describe the product “sales pitch”
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Customer / Market Requirements
Examples of market requirements:
§ Durable for situations the road-warrior faces
§ Light weight and small to fit anywhere
§ Bright, even light
§ Good battery life
§ Price is a moderate consideration (not cheap)
§ Should have an appealing look and feel
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Customer / Market Requirements
Examples of market requirements:
§ Durable for situations the road-warrior faces
§ Light weight and small to fit anywhere
§ Bright, even light
§ Good battery life
§ Price is a moderate consideration (not cheap)
§ Should have an appealing look and feel
§ What about your “special sauce”, what do you add to this product that makes it really special (integrated USB storage, rechargeable battery, different colors…)
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Customer / Market Requirements
What are your competitors doing:
§ As durable as competitor X
§ Lighter than competitor Y
§ Price similar to competitor Z
§ These market requirements will often feel obvious to you, the Visionary, but they are often not obvious to the people that will help you realize the product
§ YOU are the expert in this market, do not make assumptions of other people’s knowledge
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Customer / Market Requirements
A good plan inspires confidence in your team:
§ Everyone wants to do a good job
§ It is a great feeling to hear your team quoting the vision:
“we are going to be the lightest, the brightest… the best”
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Functional Requirements
Puts QUANTITATIVE goals on the QUALITATIVE statements of the marketing requirements?
§ This document does NOT give details of how all the goals are achieved (but it can give guidance)
§ Provide goals for each requirement
§ Provide stretch goals for as many of the market requirements as possible
§ Some requirements may be difficult or impossible to quantify (example: look and feel) but these requirements can often still be addressed (example: rubber coating on handle to make the flashlight feel great in your hand)
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Functional Requirements
The Engineer works with the Visionary and Marketing to define appropriate goals for the development team:
§ Market requirements said “lightweight”
§ Functional Requirements would define “less than 50 grams, with a stretch goal of 40 grams”
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Functional Requirements
Beware of feature creep:
§ It is easy to put these goals on paper, but they must be achievable or you will never make it to market and your team will be discouraged
§ It’s OK to ask for the impossible, but do it in the stretch goals
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Product / Engineering Specification
Now you know what you want the product to be, how do you get there?
§ Provides technical details and guidance on how the goals (and/or stretch goals) will be achieved
§ Allows Marketing and Visionary to start formulating bullet points of the product brochure
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Product / Engineering Specification
Balance and Compromise will be required – iteration against the Functional and Market requriements my occurr.
§ Example: We will achieve light weight by using AAA Batteries
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AA 23 grams
AAA 12 grams
Product / Engineering Specification
Balance and Compromise will be required – iteration against the Functional and Market requriements my occurr.
§ Example: We will achieve light weight by using AAA Batteries
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§ AAA Batteries will help hit the light weight stretch goal, but may cause us to miss the battery life goals
AA 23 grams
AAA 12 grams
Product / Engineering Specification
The sum of the parts will also be summarized.
§ AAA batteries
§ Use of Titanium housing to reduce weight
§ LED bulb to extend run-time
§ Results in XX grams total weight, YYY minutes of run-time and a cost of $$$$$$$.
Iteration may be required if the Visionary ultimately feels the balance isn’t quite right
It is MUCH better to iterate at this stage than waiting until a prototype is completed
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Product / Engineering Specification
The Visionary and the Engineering team will now be aligned.
§ Design can begin
§ Test and Verification specification can also be started
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Test and Verification Specification
How do you know the product being designed meets the Quantitative goals set?
§ Prove it!
§ Each measureable parameter is tested
§ Design is tested via the prototypes
§ Can be as simple as “weight it”
§ Anticipate variation, set allowable limits
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Test and Verification Specification
This specification has long-term usefulness that goes beyond a first prototype
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§ A subset of this document may be used in production testing
§ The tests can be run on new revisions of the product
§ The tests can be run on products manufactured by a new sub-contractor (or due to obsolete parts)
§ The tests can be used as part of a regression test strategy for new software versions
A Unified Approach
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Other People, Documents, etc. There is a lot missing in this presentation, your team members will add
their own details and processes.
§ How does QA / QC Fit?
§ What about Budgeting?
§ How do you choose an Engineering partner?
§ How do you choose a Manufacturer?
These topics become easier once you have the foundation of the four documents outlined but are beyond what can be addressed
in a single session
Know your strengths, work with people who will fill out your weak-spots and together, with a unified vision, you will be able to take
on the world
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A Final Word on Complexity.
Even something as simple as a flashlight has many parts.
Each part has to be designed or specified, located, bought, tested, integrated and tracked.
Each component may be a project by itself!
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Contact: Steve Carkner Founder and CTO Panacis 613-727-5775x727 cell 613-286-2072 skype & twitter: “scarkner”
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