www.stage-gate.com
November 2006 

WHAT'S INSIDE?

How to Manage Technology Development Projects - Drs. Cooper and Edgetts' latest article

Stage-Gate Inc.'s Clients Present at the PDMA International Conference

Improve the Success of Your Technology Development Projects

Tips and Hints


Resources

Download Our Complimentary Award-Winning Articles

Upcoming Events

Lean, Rapid
and Profitable
New Product Development
November 28-29, 2006 in Tampa

Technology Developments, Platforms and Fundamental Research
November 30, 2006 in Tampa


Managing Your New Product Portfolio for Strategic Impact  February 6-7, 2007 in Tampa



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FROM THE DESK OF DR. ROBERT COOPER & DR. SCOTT EDGETT

How to fuel your Technology Development projects so they become engines for growth


Technology Development projects are the foundation for new products and new processes and thus are vital to the prosperity of the modern corporation. Technology Development is a process methodology that introduces new services or platforms into your company with a structure that includes decision making points to manage risk.

Our latest 8-page article outlines essential guidelines and best practices to selecting and managing such venturesome projects and covers the following topics:
  • illustration of a customized Technology Development process
  • applying non-traditional methods for non-traditional projects
  • ensuring resources are in place
  • sample scorecards to prioritize Technology Development projects
  • success criteria
  • picking the right projects
  • how Technology Development feeds the new product development process
  • making your Technology Development projects pay off
Exxon Chemical was one of the first companies in the United States to recognize that Technology Development projects required special treatment, and that ramming them through their traditional management processes would do much harm.

Proctor & Gamble employs success criteria where the project team declares what they hope to achieve in order for a project to be considered 'a success'.

“Businesses that rely strictly on financial tools end up with the lowest value development portfolios” - Dr. Robert Cooper

Read the complete article below and attend our upcoming Technology Development seminar in Tampa on November 30, 2006 to learn what leading companies are adopting to manage these vital projects.
SPOTLIGHT ON SUCCESSFUL INNOVATORS
INNOVATION RESOURCES
Stage-Gate Inc. would like to extend congratulations to three of its clients for  their excellent best practice presentations at the International PDMA Conference, held in Atlanta.

Ansell Limited - Larry DelPrincipe
‘Right Metrics. Right Story’
Cooper Standard Automotive
Sean Osborne
‘Make More and Better Product Decisions to Create Greater Impact’
Mellon Financial -  David Merritt, Sr.
‘What Growth is Good Growth?’
Stage-Gate Inc. - Michelle Jones
‘Got Metrics, So What?’

Improve the success of your Technology Development projects



Cooper & Edgett's Stage-Gate®
Process customized for Technology
Development projects - 
now available in web format.
Call +1-905-304-8797 now
or email to schedule your
personal web overview. 

 
  TIPS AND HINTS
Strategic Buckets Model –An excellent way to ensure your innovation resource spending actually reflects your business’ strategy (an excerpt from the best selling 'Portfolio Management for New Products, Second Edition, Chapter 5).

Have you given serious thought to how you link portfolio project selection to your business’s strategy? Do you have a business and new product strategy in place –one that is clearly articulated and well understood by management and other decision makers? If not, you should take a closer look at the projects you are allocating resources to - they may not mirror your business strategy and strategic priorities as closely as they should. In fact, many executives are surprised and disappointed when they learn how their innovation resources are actually spent. To remedy this critical issue faced by innovation executives, Cooper and Edgett created the Strategic Buckets Model. The concept is simple and operates from the principle that 'strategy is not real until it translates into spending money on activities or projects'.

The Strategic Buckets Model is an excellent way to ensure your innovation resource spending actually reflects your business's strategy. Dr. Cooper provides a rich illustration of how the model works in his upcoming seminar 'Managing Your Product Portfolio for Strategic Impact', but it essentially boils down to eight key steps:

1. Develop a vision and strategy for the business
2. Make forced resource allocation choices across key stratetic dimensions
3. Define strategic buckets
4. Determine current spending
5. Determine desired spending
6. Identify gaps
7. Rank project by bucket
8. Make necessary adjustments.


The Productivity Index – innovation productivity equals the profit from a project divided by the cost and time to do the project. Do you know what your innovation productivity index is? Do you know what your competitors' is? You can't manage what you don't measure and this metric is too important to leave to chance. The strength of the productivity index is that it is a metric that companies can measure, focus on, and, through their actions, improve. This one simple metric has great potential and power. Consider that productivity in product innovation in the top performing businesses is five times what it is in the average business - they get five times as much newproduct output for the same investment! Learn more about this metric and the seven principles of Lean, Rapid and Profitable New Product Development at our upcoming executive innovation seminar in Tampa on November 28-29, 2006. Register now and receive a complimentary book.

Do you have a success story?

Dr. Robert Cooper is currently seeking storyboard submissions from companies of all sizes and industries for display at The First International Stage-Gate Leadership Summit:

“We’ve designed the templates for the storyboards to be easy to complete and submit” said Michelle Jones, Vice President of Product Management at Stage-Gate Inc. The three page downloadable templates cover the following topics:
1. Company description and product/service description
2. Illustration and description of the Stage-Gate Process you used for this product/service
3. Product/service team, performance, and lessions

Share your story!

For more information contact Michelle Jones at +1-905-304-8797 or by email.
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