Good Portfolio Management Includes Front-end Work

November 5, 2018 By Leave a Comment

by Paul O’Connor 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 improvement. The utmost influence on a portfolio’s Read more […] Related posts: Product Portfolio Management – Picking Flowers in the Dark Why Good Portfolio Management Depends on a Robust Front-end

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The Misdirected Guidance of “Portfolio Balance”

October 31, 2018 By 1 Comment

by Paul O’Connor 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. Instead, we make it up. That’s right, the gurus and experts make up numbers to impress you. Portfolio Read more […] Related posts: Product Portfolio Management – Picking Flowers in the Dark I Had a Portfolio Management Epiphany

Filed Under: Articles, Roadmapping

Think Big! Innovate Product Lines, Not Products

October 30, 2018 By Leave a Comment

Look over a few articles on innovation. Ask yourself if they’re about innovating one product at a time or do they suggest innovating multiple products? Do they propose innovating whole product lines? This is important because product lines are far more powerful than a single product. It’s time to think much bigger. It’s time to switch to product ¬line innovation and move beyond the single product view. Single product innovation is a thing of the past. To some, this sounds trivial. Read more […] Related posts: Eight Vital Facts about Product Line Strategies Roadmapping Your Product Lines

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Product Portfolio Management – Picking Flowers in the Dark

October 26, 2018 By Leave a Comment

by Paul O’Connor 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 teams don’t share their strategies well. Plus, these same product lines tend not to have detailed roadmaps to carry out their strategies. Read more […] Related posts: Good Portfolio Management Includes Front-end Work I Had a Portfolio Management Epiphany

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Understanding Product Line Strategy

October 22, 2018 By Leave a Comment

by Paul O’Connor In my book and workshops, 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 why. Product line success in large companies demands many functions to work together. It’s not just the product line team’s work that matters. It’s also the work by sales, Read more […] Related posts: WHITEPAPER: Powerful Product Lines Strategies How to Screw Up a Product Line

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Product Versus Product Line

October 12, 2018 By Leave a Comment

Roadmaps & Strategies There’s a major gap between product and product line thinking. By Paul O’Connor Stop for a moment. Do you know the difference between a product and a product line? Of course, you do. A product is a single offering with attributes that deliver benefit, satisfaction, and delight to customers. A product line is a group of products, each related to one another. Together, the products deliver sets of attributes. And attributes confer benefit, satisfaction, and customer delight. Read more […] Related posts: Eight Vital Facts about Product Line Strategies Multi-Generational Product Plans Vs. Product Line Strategies and Roadmaps

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Eight Vital Facts about Product Line Strategies

October 10, 2018 By Leave a Comment

By Paul O’Connor Interested in Product Line Strategies or Product Line Roadmaps? Eight Important Facts You Must Know Don’t expect one-off developments to beat competitors’ multi-generational plans. Being good at innovation and project execution won’t matter. Good product line strategies always trounce single-product strategies. Rolling up project plans into a single roadmap does little to make effective strategy. Teams must first address their product line strategy’s core. This Read more […] Related posts: Understanding Product Line Strategy Watch On-Demand Webinar – Product Line Strategy Essence

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Lean Startups and Intrapreneurship Evade Core Challenges

October 9, 2018 By Leave a Comment

By Paul O’Connor, The Adept Group Pick up any business publication, and you’ll see stories and articles on how organizations must innovate. The message is clear. Your organization’s health, your personal future, and our whole society depend on improving innovation. Good writing with good stories can make compelling arguments to support simple approaches. They stress helping and encouraging you to think “outside the box.” And they remind you not to be bound by your organization’s Read more […] Related posts: WHITEPAPER – The Extraordinary Benefits of Product Line Strategies and Roadmaps The Mindshare Battle in Product Development and Innovation Management

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WHITEPAPER – Good Product Line Strategy Matters

September 26, 2018 By 2 Comments

Download the full whitepaper. Related posts: WHITEPAPER: Intro to Product Line Strategizing and Roadmapping as a Process WHITEPAPER – An Introduction to Product Line Strategizing and Roadmapping as a Process

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Fighting Evil Complexity Costs

February 28, 2017 By Leave a Comment

Smart Product Line Strategies & Roadmaps by Paul O’Connor, NPDP Accounting can be as thrilling as getting teeth pulled. Cost accounting, however, is a skill product developers must get their arms around. This is the black art of calculating how much products cost to develop, make and sell.  I call it a black art not because of the easily understood direct, variable cost of a product. Rather it is a black art because a wizard must allocate mysterious organizational overhead to a product line Read more […] Related posts: WHITEPAPER: Powerful Product Lines Strategies Assessing the Full Risk of New Product Development Projects

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