Paul O’Connor is an expert in the field of New Product Development. For over twenty-five years he has worked with executives and facilitated teams of senior managers. In 1984, Paul founded The Adept Group Limited, Inc.
Capitalizing on his skills in business strategy, marketing research, technology assessment, organizational process and team facilitation, Mr. O’Connor influences and guides the product development and innovation efforts of clients in both consumer and industrial markets, around the globe. Read More
The Profound Impact of Product Line Strategy In my book and Masterclasses, I lay out a strong framework for product line strategies. I complement this with an easily understood lexicon. Together, the framework and lexicon are important to gaining greater impact from product lines. And they’re not just for product line teams. Let me explain […]
What’s not a Product-lever in Product Line Strategy When teaching product line strategy, I hear managers argue about what is and isn’t a platform-lever. To aid the discussion I offer two quick tests. The first test is whether the factor in question can cut across cross multiple products. The second test is whether the factor […]
How Product Line Roadmaps Differ From Product Roadmaps And Why You Need Both A product line roadmap is a timeline graphic that communicates how a team intends to carry out a product line strategy. It shows milestones and key relationships between strategy parts. At least one platform-lever[1] is central to most product line strategies. Teams […]
The “Pivot” is synonymous with successful startups. Experts love to tell the stories about how pivots are the key to success. Paypal, Starbucks, and Twitter all found fortune through a pivot. And you’ll also hear business school and consulting jargon thrown at the topic. Phrases spring to mind like strategic agility and business model re-alignment. […]
Innovation can drive business growth. It’s a key to every organization’s well-being. But many companies carry out innovation haphazardly. They’re more likely to count on serendipity, not strategic thinking, to drive gains from innovation. Unfortunately, management teams have little clarity on why, how, or when to advance product offerings. No wonder Harvard Professor Clayton Christensen […]
Management teams know how technologies and markets are changing. Yet many still foundered. Could it happen to your company? I argue it could, no matter how strong the competitive advantage your company has built. Just think about Sony’s decades-long losing struggle against Samsung or GE’s faltering power turbine business. Learn how and why good Product […]
If you’re interested in NPD and R&D portfolio management, here is an important insight: Most Portfolio Management presentations discuss only development projects. They do not show, analyze, or rationalize front-end work. Anyone new to product development might assume Portfolio Management should only be about products under development. But if that’s all, then portfolio management misses its greatest opportunity for […]
I have a simple message for everyone involved in product development. This message is especially important for PMOs. These are the manager’s responsible for analyzing project portfolios. They calculate resources and priorities to determine who should work on which projects. “Portfolio Balance” is misguided. The problem is no one knows what the “balance” should be. […]
Project prioritization is difficult. As a result, senior managers who govern portfolios often make things up as they go. Why not? Somebody must figure what’s more important and what’s not. It might as well be whoever is looking at the bubble charts. There are two big challenges with figuring out project prioritization. First, product lines […]
