Workshop- The AUTOMATION Debate

When To Automate  Your Innovation Processes
Dr. Ken Huskins Director of Implementation & Training Services Stage-Gate Inc.

Increasingly, companies are looking for tools that will enable higher efficiency from their product innovation organization and, thereby, improve their return on investment. There is much literature advising the importance of first ensuring your innovation processes are robust and complete with the best practices necessary to drive superior performance.  However, there is a shortage of unbiased, solid guidance regarding the timing that makes best sense for introducing automation tools to your organization.  Automating too soon can dangerously shift your team’s focus away from learning and applying new behaviors that drive better innovation performance.  Automating too late can lead to frustrated practitioners and gatekeepers, poor utilization of project data, difficulty in capturing and analyzing performance metrics, and unnecessary administrative costs to manage your innovation processes.  So how does one determine the timing and route best for their organization?  This interactive workshop will explore various frameworks to enable your analysis. Attendees will explore practical solutions to these challenges: 

• Process Maturity -  Indicators you are Ready to Automate Your Innovation Processes
• Timing – Whether to Automate During or After You Design Your Innovation Processes
• Critical Success Factors – How to Ensure a Successful Automation Initiative

Workshop- The GATE Debate

Make Better Project Selection Decisions
Michael Wiebe P.Eng Principal Consultant Stage-Gate Inc.

The most important interface between decision makers and NPD project teams is the gate meeting. Cooper and Edgett have long advocated ‘as go the gates, so goes the process’.  The research continues to show that gates are critical to successful product innovation.  Recently, we also understand the positive impact that an effective gate meeting capability has on all elements of the Innovation Diamond.  In short, the gate meeting is one of the most critical points in successful product innovation.  So why is it that many companies continue to struggle with making gate meetings work well?  This interactive workshop will explore the attributes of a great innovation decision-making environment.  Attendees will explore practical solutions to these challenges:

• How Gatekeepers’ Performance Impacts Everybody’s Performance
• The Interface Between Decision Maker & NPD Project Team -  Managing expectations so everyone gets what they need to Drive Winning New Products to Market
• Really Good Innovation Investment Decisions – How to Make More of Them.