Startups

The technology explosion of the early 80s created a plethora of niche market technology businesses. These businesses grew up in a world where a couple of engineers could create a new product category by applying enabling technologies that were rapidly decreasing in cost, size, and power. Many of these new products created niche markets that, although quite profitable, never achieved a significant scale. These businesses typically have very long product cycles as investments in product improvements must be calibrated against the ROI of the development cost.

When compared to larger companies, small technology businesses in niche markets have unique challenges when it comes to developing products. When compared to larger mainstream businesses, small companies have longer product life cycles, limited budgets for developing products, and small development teams (or none at all).

This white paper examines the unique challenges that small companies face in developing technology products and outlines some strategies that can be deployed to remediate these issues. We have 15 years of experience to support our findings and the expertise to help you succeed.

If you’re a startup or small business, at some point you are going to hire a product development team. This seemingly simple task has lead many an entrepreneur to run. There are sharks in the water, well-meaning experts that will do the wrong thing really well, people looking to learn on your nickel, and lots and lots of people who do not understand the difference between large company product development and small business product development. It’s no wonder most projects fail to meet budget or revenue goals. Peer-reviewed studies compiled by the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) show as many as 49 percent of product development projects fail, and there is anecdotal evidence to suggest it is much higher in small companies and startups.

You want to see your product succeed. You want to see your company succeed. In order for that to happen, you also have to succeed in product development.

The major hurdle most small companies and startups face when it comes to product development? Limited resources, both in funding and expertise.

Understanding the phases of product development and effectively managing the process from day one are the keys to your success. Knowledge, expertise, and good decision making will help ensure that you, your product, and your company succeed, and at the same time reduce your costs and risk.

This white paper focuses on successful product development for small companies and startups. We have 15 years of experience to support our findings and the expertise to help you succeed.

Detailed Design – Secrets to Great Detailed Design

The Detailed Design Phase is the product development stage in which the abstract ideas defined by the Requirements and Conceptual Design are transformed into a tangible, functional product. It is typically the largest and longest phase of any product development program, consuming the most manpower and time. The detailed implementation and integration of diverse technical disciplines require creativity, analytical skills, fabrication, assembly, troubleshooting, debugging, iteration and, most of all, on-going and constructive communication among all of the team members involved. Consequently, it is also the stage in which mistakes and overruns are most likely to occur. Below are several concepts that we apply at Finish Line PDS to improve product development performance and results during the Detailed Design Phase.

1 – Start ‘Right’ at the Beginning
If you do not already have well documented and approved product requirements that clearly articulate what you want to develop, you are not ready to start detailed design! It is that simple. We all know the story of the Blind Men and the Elephant in which several blind men describe their personal knowledge of an elephant after having exposure to only one of its body parts, e.g., its trunk, tusk, leg, tail, etc. Upon discussing the elephant, they quickly realize that they all have a radically and irreconcilably different understanding of the same animal. Now, imagine that the blind men are your engineers and designers and that the elephant is your new product concept. What do you think you will get from your team without discussing and clearly articulating and documenting your product prior to starting its design? It is very unlikely to be the product you desire and, whatever it is, it will definitely not be delivered in the most timely and efficient manner.

2 – Don’t Reinvent the Wheel. In Fact, Don’t Invent Anything You Don’t Have To!
Product development is hard! You are creating something unique. Whether it is pioneering a new product category, a radical spin on an existing product or a mid-life kicker for an aging one, it always includes something new and different. However, differentiating whether ‘new and different’ can be achieved through engineering or actually requires a major invention is a critical part of successful product development. Engineering can usually be planned and scheduled. Yes, it may take a few iterations to perfect but these can be anticipated and accommodated in the development plan. The invention, on the other hand, is nearly impossible to predict. It may take weeks, months or years. What’s worse, the goals for the desired invention might never be attained. Mistaking invention for engineering and anticipating its orderly and scheduled progress along a critical path is destined to undermine any project. Thoroughly evaluate each aspect of your new product. If anything requires an invention, don’t schedule and conduct it during Detailed Design. Establish a separate, focused sub-project whose only mission is to develop the invention. Once you are confident that the invention can be reduced to engineering, you can marshal your development team for the Detailed Design Phase. Otherwise, establish a proven contingency that can substitute for the new invention during product introduction and the first market cycle.

Another approach to timely and efficient product development is to actually conduct as little new design and development as possible. Leverage existing concepts, designs, components, modules, etc. and save your precious development resources for those elements of the design that differentiate your product and add unique value for your customers. They care more about the uniqueness and value your product offers than about the ancillary and generic aspects of the product that can be leveraged from other sources.

3- Step One – Make a Drawing Tree
Step one is NOT generating a Gantt chart, it is a developing drawing tree. A drawing tree is a diagram that includes all of the critical assemblies and subassemblies and their hierarchical relationship to one another. Until you can identify and define all of the assemblies that make up the product you cannot plan how those assemblies will be developed. Generating the drawing tree:

Allows everyone on the team to understand WHAT drawings/subassemblies need to be completed.
Allows everyone on the team to understand HOW drawings/subassemblies connect to other assemblies.
Allows manufacturing insight into how the product will be manufactured.
Allows assignment to be made to individual engineers with clearly defined “done” points: drawing done, prototype built, DVT done. A drawing tree shows a product-centric plan as compared and contrasted with a time-centric Gantt chart.
Defines “done” (at least for the detailed design phase). When all the drawings have been signed off in terms of drawing, prototype built and DVT done.

4- Keep It Simple
There are numerous quotes extolling the virtues of simplicity and perhaps none of them captures the essence of the concept better than one from Albert Einstein “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler”. This maxim is applicable to product development and especially to Detailed Design. Designs should be made as simple as possible. Simple designs are easier to communicate, implement, test, document, and support. About the only thing that may not be easier is creating them. However, the time spent simplifying designs during the Detailed Design Phase is always justified. Avoid the tendency to accept the first design presented and test every design concept by asking, “Is this as simple as possible?”

Simplicity also applies to the prototype and test stages of the Detailed Design Phase. There is a tendency to wait for the entire new system including the hardware, software, mechanism, etc. to come together before testing starts. However, it is usually much more effective to prototype and test at the lowest subassembly level possible. This eliminates the delays associated with waiting for ‘everything’. It permits you to focus on the risk areas much earlier in the development process, providing more time for iterations and changes.

5- Actively Manage Change
Change is an inevitable part of product development. As the development process proceeds, new product improvement opportunities or limitations may be identified, the market or competitive landscape may change and revelations may emerge. It is essential that all of the changes be actively managed. Just because product improvement opportunities are possible does not mean that they should automatically be incorporated into the new design. If an impediment is encountered, it does not automatically mean that a requirement can’t be satisfied. Each change should be consciously considered, discussed, documented and acted upon. This provides the opportunity for genuine improvement and consciously accommodating or rejecting its associated costs or consequences. It also provides a control mechanism to manage and prevent scope creep. The Requirements Document must always be maintained in a current state and changes must be immediately shared with the entire team.

6- Design Documentation – It Isn’t a Byproduct, It’s the Deliverable!
In the excitement of new product development, it is easy to lose sight of the primary objective. While the attention may be focused on your great new product, the real objective is to create and comprehensively document a design that permits the efficient manufacture of your great new product. This broader definition must permeate the entire Detailed Design Process and not be left as an afterthought. Design Documentation should be generated and maintained throughout the design process and should be an integral part of every design review. All specifications, drawings, code, BOMs and test plans should be independently reviewed, approved and maintained under revision control in a secure environment.