infoTECH Feature

May 20, 2015

5 Building Blocks for a Successful Product Development Partnership

More and more these days, product development is approached as a collaborative partnership. Gone are the days when a list of requirements would be sent off to the product development firm with little or no interaction between engineers and industrial designers until it’s time to review results.

The new model represents a highly engaged relationship that involves an ongoing flow of ideas and feedback informing both sides of the partnership. How do you navigate this new style of arrangement and make sure you’re getting the most benefit from your product development firm?

The answer?—By ensuring these five building blocks are in place to form the foundation of a successful, productive product development partnership, whether you’re focused on execution-oriented projects or research-focused initiatives.

1. Clarify requirements and establish crystal-clear expectations.

When the very purpose of requirements is to outline what you expect from your product development consulting firm, it may seem a foregone conclusion that they will clearly define the goals of the project and expected outcomes.

Yet it is surprising how often clients have loosely defined expectations of what they’re hoping to achieve—and what they want from the product development team. An experienced product development partner recognizes that vague requirements and unclear expectations are a recipe for disaster down the road, and will encourage the client to first complete a brief and inexpensive “discovery” phase to gather requirements as a baseline.

With clearly defined requirements in hand, the client is better informed and prepared to seek out competitive proposals from multiple product development consulting service providers, and can be assured of apples-to-apples comparison of costs, services and deliverables.

2. Articulate specific deliverables.

Often seen in the company of loosely defined requirements are sketchy details on expected deliverables; where there’s one, the other unfortunately usually follows. A clear set of deliverables is not only a comparison-shopping measure designed to satisfy procurement teams; they are absolutely necessary in order for clients to understand (and set internal expectations) for how product development partners will deliver results.

Unclear deliverables can not only create problems in the procurement phase on the front end of a relationship and the delivery phase on the back end; throughout the project, a lack of agreement on specific deliverables opens the door to ongoing debates over the progress and quality of the work.

3. Keep the door open to collaboration. 

In the past, product developers were the only ideators on product development projects—but that’s no longer the case. Instead of simply handing off requirements, clients are increasingly getting involved as co-creators and co-innovators on projects.

Agile (News - Alert) development approaches have also changed the dynamic and client/designer relationship. Rather than build solutions that are presented as final deliverables at the end of a project, engineers and industrial designers are often constantly exchanging ideas and fine-tuning plans and concepts based on feedback and new information that’s constantly coming in from a variety of sources.

If you’re the client, it’s your right to participate in the process as much as you’d like; just be sure to establish this as an expectation at the outset of the relationship to ensure you’re working with a firm that values and welcomes your input.

4. Create a shared understanding around acceptance criteria and project completion.

It seems like a simple question, but “When is the project ‘done’?” is too often overlooked when outlining project parameters. Establishing clear acceptance criteria is key, and it must be understood and agreed-upon by both sides.

Here are some key questions you might ask as part of defining project completion and acceptance criteria: When someone says they are delivering sketches, do you have rough hand-drawn pictures in mind, or are you thinking nicely rendered computer-generated images? Is a proof-of-concept model a prototype that demonstrates the functional properties of the idea—without regard for aesthetics—or are you imagining a fully functional prototype with appealing aesthetics?

In addition, plan now for a final review meeting that allows time to review all deliverables, followed by a formal acceptance on the part of the client; you may build these in at each phase of the project as check-in points to ensure consensus. From a service provider’s viewpoint, these checkpoints signal when they can safely provide final phase invoices. For clients, the review summarizes each phase and provides confidence that all the commitments have been satisfied.

5. Insist on accountability.

When building a house, if the foundation is strong and sound, maintenance and upkeep will be easier. Likewise, if you’ve created a clear definition of requirements, deliverables, the level of collaboration you expect, and acceptance criteria, you will have solid rationale upon which to accept or reject the work of your product development partner—and enjoy a more productive working relationship along the way. 

As the working relationship between clients and product development firms evolves into one that’s more agile and collaborative, it’s as important as ever to ensure that there’s a clear understanding of what you expect versus what your service provider has committed to provide. By following these tips, you’ll put yourself in a strong position for a successful product development partnership—and the creation of a successful product.

About the Author: Mitch is the President and Co-Founder of Intelligent Product Solutions (IPS), building on a vision of delivering a new model for software and hardware product development that integrates the full spectrum of design and engineering disciplines as a single source solution.  It  productises emerging technologies and advanced materials into high-value consumer and industrial products and applications.  Mitch can be reached at [email protected]




Edited by Dominick Sorrentino
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