Our Founder

Paul O’Connor has spent a career making product lines perform.

Founder of The Adept Group, past president of the PDMA, and author of the product-line trilogy — now the originator of ConstructorOne™.

Founded Adept in 1984Four decades advising innovation leaders.
Author of the trilogyBooks 1–3 on product-line strategy and systems.
NPDP-certifiedHelped shape the profession’s first certification tests.

The short version

An expert in new product development — and the systems around it.

For more than thirty years, Paul has worked with executives and facilitated teams of senior managers, guiding the product development and innovation efforts of clients in consumer and industrial markets around the world.

He founded The Adept Group with a single focus: to improve innovation in mid-size and large companies. Today his clients span nearly every industry — capitalizing on his skills in business strategy, market research, technology assessment, organizational process, and team facilitation.
Paul O'Connor, founder of The Adept Group

Where it started

From open-innovation pioneers to Exxon and P&G.

O’Connor began his career at a leading innovation and strategy “think tank” — the firm that created the original open-innovation approach. There he led and simplified innovation initiatives at major companies including Exxon and Procter & Gamble, working alongside pioneers in project screening, staged development, portfolio management, and intrapreneurship.From 1990 to 1992 he served as president of the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA), where he helped shape the association’s first certification test and set up foundational research on best practices and measuring new-product success.

What he built

A body of work — and the tools to apply it.

The product-line trilogy

The Profound Impact of Product Line Strategy (2018), Racing Change, and Winning the Race.

ConstructorOne™

Software that carries product-line strategy and management as one motion.

Responsive roadmapping

Methods for roadmapping the whole product-line stack across generations.

SpiralUp™ transformation

A capability-transformation model for development portfolio management.

The profession’s scaffolding

Contributor to the PDMA Handbook (1996, 2008) and the 2004 ToolBook; contributing editor at R&D Magazine.

Peer-reviewed research

Published in the Journal of Product Innovation Management and widely across business media.

Credentials

Engineering, business, and the discipline in between.

B.E., Stevens Institute of TechnologyBachelor of Engineering, New Jersey.
MBA, Babson CollegeWith joint programs at MIT.
NPDP certificationCertified New Product Development Professional.

Paul teaches master classes in creating and carrying out product-line strategies and responsive roadmapping — often customized for clients and delivered under NDA — and speaks frequently at professional meetings and corporate seminars. He also supports his family’s eCommerce business, with working knowledge of WordPress, JavaScript, Node.js, PHP, Python, Keras–TensorFlow, and AI integration.

Work with Paul

Bring four decades of product-line expertise to your line.

See Our ServicesRequest a Meeting

paul.oconnor@adept-plm.com