Flexible Product Development: Building Agility for Changing Markets [Hardcover]

Preston G. Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 28, 2007

In this landmark book, Preston Smith attributes the recent decline in innovation to pressure from financial markets that drives management toward rigid development approaches such as phased development processes, Six Sigma, and project office. These processes have unintentionally (but effectively) made changes during development more difficult, disruptive, and expensive, while the need for change continues at an accelerating pace.

Flexible Product Development is a hands-on resource that provides the tools and strategies needed to restore flexibility to any organization and remove the obstacles that stand in the way of responsive new product development. Preston Smith introduces approaches that can enhance development process flexibility by creating and maintaining development options, delaying decisions, and, in general, reducing the cost of change. Step-by-step, he explains the basics of flexible product development, provides a broad array of flexibility-enhancing tools, and guides the reader in modifying the organization?s values to embrace this new way of operating.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I believe that any careful reader of (this book) will emerge with a clear sense of those values and principles and enough enthusiasm for what Smith recommends to take his advice and go ahead and implement them." (Journal of Product Innovation Management, 03/2008)

Review

“Speed has always been a critical element in the product design process. But as Preston Smith points out, one must be extraordinarily flexible as well in one’s development and innovation processes.  In the light-speed world we live in today, as Smith so poignantly points out, one’s ability to use intelligent, knowledge-based flexibility is an imperative to winning each day, every day.”—Michael D. Thieneman, executive vice president and chief technology officer, Whirlpool Corporation

 

“Preston’s previous book, Developing Products in Half the Time, was chock-full of time-to-market gems. This one goes further, showing time-to-market in a new light and providing even more wisdom that’s right on for today.”—Chuck Blevins, director, Office of Program Management

LifeScan, Inc. (Johnson & Johnson)

 

 

“Preston provides exceptionally detailed treatment of techniques to help any program manager lead difficult, constantly changing projects. His many examples show how these tools work in the real world.”—Jim Callahan, senior program manager, C-Cor

 

 

“This book addresses what’s concerned me lately: how to make product development more effective and quicker. It emphasizes that project leaders should manage decisions and risk rather than tasks and processes because decisions are what really drive the project.”—James Joseph Snyder, product development manager, Medtronic, Inc.

 

 

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (September 28, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787995843
• ISBN-13: 978-0787995843
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.1 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #338,540 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #100 in Books > Business & Investing > Marketing & Sales > Marketing > Product Management

More About the Author

I have been a management consultant and trainer specializing in rapid and flexible product development since 1984. Prior to that, I earned a PhD in engineering from Stanford University and held several engineering and management positions in a broad variety of companies.

Here are short descriptions of my three books:

Developing Products in Half the Time has become a classic in the time-to-market literature--90,000 English copies in circulation plus six translations. It was published originally in 1991, with a paperback update in 1995 and a second edition in 1998.

Proactive Risk Management was written because I found that--even though Chapter 12 of Developing Products in Half the Time covers project risk management--companies were doing poorly at it. Specifically, companies with a phased-development process would typically identify and document project risks in an early phase. But then they would do nothing about these risks, and when the risks blossomed later in the project, it was embarrassing that to see that they had been predicted. This book won the David Cleland Project Literature Award from the Project Management Institute in 2003 as the best project management publication in 2002.

Flexible Product Development recognizes that, as the world has become more chaotic, it is unrealistic to presume, as we usually do in our plans, that the project will proceed to completion without changes. In fact, it is the nature of innovation that the project should change as we learn more about the customer and the product. So, instead of denying change, this book embraces change by reducing the cost of change and keeping options open. It aims to do for non-software products what agile software development has done for that field.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another excellent book from Preston Smith, February 26, 2008

By 

J. Sloane "Jimblob" (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Flexible Product Development: Building Agility for Changing Markets (Hardcover)

This is the second book of Preston's that I have read, and they are both excellent books. He has his finger on the pulse of change in product development.
This one, "Flexible Product Development: Building Agility for Changing Markets" is a book that describes a successful future of product development and project management. The flexibility concept Preston describes is essential to managing products and projects in the future. The speed of business continues to require teams to get projects done faster with less resources and information.
I think he is right on with his flexible approach to requirements development. A lot of product innovation success is tied to customer involvement in requirements development in an iterative way, much like the agile techniques for software development. the great thing about this book is it offers techniques for non-software products.
His flexible approach is fairly close to the Earned Value Management (EVM)technique called "rolling Wave Planning". In this technique the team detail plans near future work and leaves farther out work in planning packages. Rolling wave periods are usually 3 or 6 months long, but can be modified to suit the project. Unfortunately, implementing a total EVM system is not a possibility for fast projects, it is a very cumbersome methodology.
As we move into the future I think PMI methodology will have to become more like Preston Smith's. The use of their methodology will dwindle unless it can be applied flexibly.
I think Preston is on his way to creating a viable methodology for product development and project management, that fits the increasing speed of business.
This is a must have reference for those of us who want to stay agile and current in the business of project and product management.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars First book in a new field, March 21, 2008

By 

Bas Vodde (Singapore) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Flexible Product Development: Building Agility for Changing Markets (Hardcover)

Flexible Product development is a hard book to write a review about. I believe it's an important book. As Preston Smith already points out in the beginning, it's the first book that focuses on flexibility in product development (also outside the software domain). It heavily draws from the Agile SW Development ideas and brings these ideas to product development in general.

One reason why the book is hard to review is because the value of reading this book will depend much on what you already read earlier. If you are familiar with Agile development AND you have read Smith and Reintertsen's earlier work, then it doesn't add much, I would just rank it 3 stars and wouldn't recommend it. If you are new to either Agile development or the earlier work, this book will be 4 stars and worth reading. If you not very familiar with either then this book is a must read (5 stars). So depending on your previous reading and experience, you'll have to decide whether its worth reading.

The book is set up as a collection of tools for making product development more flexible. The first chapter provides the theoretical basis for why you want your development to be more flexible and also introduces agile development.

Chapter three talks about the importance of modular architecture. The fourth chapter talks about experimenting. I found especially the talk about rapid prototyping and 3d printers very interesting. Next chapter talks about set-based design, a technique Toyota has used in their car design. Building so that you do not make one decision but keep a set of decisions open. I felt some real examples were missing in this part of the book.

Chapter 6 is probably the most important chapter in the books and talks about people and teams. Much of it was similar than earlier work from Smith, though this time it seemed to be stressed even more than before. Excellent chapter.

Chapter 8 talks about the difference between flexible product development project management and traditional project manager. An important subject. The next chapter covers processes. This chapter has been postponed to the end to de-emphasize the focus on processes. As the agile community says "individuals and interaction over process and tools". Yet, process is also important.

The book ends with a chapter on change and change management and how to proceed in making the product development in your organization more flexible.

Conclusion. A well-written book. An important book as the first in a potential new series of books. A great summary of earlier material. Worth reading if you have not read much on the subject yet.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Underlying Values and Principles that are Critical to Flexible Development, October 24, 2007

By 

Mark A. Hart "Mark A Hart, NPDP, OpLaunch" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Flexible Product Development: Building Agility for Changing Markets (Hardcover)

"Flexible Product Development - Building Agility for Changing Markets" is a collection of insights from an experienced, well-informed adviser.

Smith declares, "This may be the first book on product development flexibility, but I did not invent the material." (p. xiii) Smith continues, "The benefits of flexibility connect directly with the degree of innovation you seek." (p. 7) This is possible because "The customer is the starting point - and the ending point - for all effective product development, so it is appropriate to start by exploring ways businesses can improve flexibility through their relations with customers." (p. 31) In flexible product development, requirements evolve. "Flexible process are emergent." (p. 205) Flexible projects "anticipate the future better." (p. 212)

Flexibility in development is contrasted with familiar management approaches like "phased development systems, project office, and Six Sigma" (p. x). Flexible product development has much in common with agile software development principles. (Chapter 1)

People such as Professor Alan MacCormack of the Harvard Business School, Barry Boehm from the University of Southern California, and Frederick Brooks, the author of "The Mythical Man-Month" are presented as paragons of excellence. The company most discussed is Toyota.

Chapter 6 begins by presenting Boehm's factors that influence labor costs for a development project. "People factors ... are by far the most important ones in determining project effort and thus cost." (p. 126). Smith has suggestions for development team composition. There should be an appropriate mixture of developers of process mastery levels 1, 2, and 3. Level X developers present a dilemma for management. (p. 131) The concept of levels 1, 2, and 3 is credited to Alistair Cockburn, an author of the Agile Manifesto. Level 3 people are fluent in their craft and "Able and willing to adjust and improvise without reference to specified methods." (p. 130) Level X developers are proficient but they often poison the team by behavior such as withholding information. Level X is credited to Boehm and Turner. Chapter 6 addresses the inefficiency of working on too many projects.

Chapter 7 presents the benefits of making decisions at the "last responsible moment." The last responsible moment is different that typical procrastination. It involves "identifying and collecting information now that will help you make a better decision." (p. 175)

Chapter 9 addresses the product development process. Two extremes are presented. One method is the process-centric process that is often described as a "best practice." The other approach is "We hire the best, make sure they have product development experience, give them what they need, and turn them toward their own judgment." The second approach is consistent with Chapter 9, "Trust in People," described in "The HP Way " by David Packard in 1995.

Chapter 9 presents the concept of Technical debt - "the unfinished work your organization owes to your product." (p. 228).

The title of Chapter 10 is "Implementing Flexibility." Smith warns "Tools are tangible and easy to learn, but it is the underlying values and principles that are critical to becoming flexible." (p. 231)