“The future ain’t what it used to be.” Yogi Berra Sometimes product development projects do not live up to their initial promise. Knowing when to shut down a project can be an important ingredient to success. Most new product ideas start out with great expectations, but over time, some start to fade. Worse, this process… Read More

Decision making is fundamental to any professional activity. The study of “decision bias” is a fascinating subject. These studies show that the root cause of most faulty decision making is the wrong assumption. One of the most common faulty assumptions in the product development world is that the development budget and time is an obvious… Read More

I just finished reading the book “The Three Rules“. This academic team attempted to find “rules” of biz that are ALWAYS true. They found three: Rule #1: Better before Cheaper Rule #2: Revenue before Cost Rule #3: There are no other rules. “Better before Cheaper” means that if you are faced with a choice between… Read More

Does it ever seem like the last 10% of the project takes 90% of the time? If you have had this experience, you are not alone. It happens all too frequently when trying to develop technology products in a small company. Managing a project with several different engineers, all with their unique areas of expertise… Read More

There are many more ways to pay for product development than you may realize, including not paying for it at all. What is right for your situation will depend on your exact circumstances. You may wish to review the following before starting your next product development project. 1. Employees: Most of us are familiar with… Read More

Recently I had a client give me an idea for a new product he had been thinking of and then ask me for a Gantt Chart (Gantt Charts illustrate the start and finish dates of the terminal elements and summary elements of a project) for the project.  I tried to explain that creating such a… Read More

Small companies in niche markets know they can design better products, but can they sell enough of their products to pay back their investment? When unit volumes are low, the cost of developing the product can sometimes exceed the manufacturing cost. Here are a few tips for reducing product development cost in a small company:… Read More

To outsource or not to outsource? It’s a question that arises again and again in small companies. Why? Because technology is evolving rapidly, and many small companies are struggling to fund the fixed cost of a full-time team with the necessary diversity of skills needed to stay competitive. For years, small companies have been developing… Read More

We have a lot of interactions with CMs (Contract Manufacturers). These companies are amazing—they can do ten thousand things and not make a single mistake. Their business must work this way to stay competitive. Product development, on the other hand, is different. In product development, you are lucky if you do 10 things and get… Read More

If I had to pick the biggest mistake small companies make when it comes to product development, it would be that they make the mistake of treating product development as if it was just like any other business activity—sales, accounting, customer service, manufacturing, etc. Product development is a process of discovery, creativity and problem solving,… Read More