From time-to-time I hear of someone, usually from academia, proposing that the time has come to dispense with Phase-Gate or Toll Gate Product Development Processes (PDP). Do they really mean to completely abandon Phases and Gates altogether, and replace them with some extreme or unfamiliar form of Lean Product Development (LPD) as described in some of the literature on the topic, for instance
The Toyota Product Development System by Morgan & Liker and
Lean Product and Process Development by Allen C. Ward?
I have discovered that you have to read what they are saying with great care because they don't really mean to be as controversial as their words might imply. The changes are in most cases subtle and in a few cases suggest very dramatic differences from "traditional" Phase-Gate approaches. The big shifts don't really require utter abandonment at all - just changes away from conventional wisdom as provided by the big management consultants. I propose a more balanced alternative; integrating Lean Principles, as well as LPD methods, into modern forms of Phase-Gate PDP's. The key difference is having the people who do the work and follow the development process actually design the process, as well as their individual tool-task-deliverable flow within it. It is here where reasonableness is born as we step away from "traditional" approaches!
PDSS has successfully integrated Lean Principles as well as portions of LPD into Phase-Gate PDP's designed in close collaboration with our clients. This approach works well because it is from the people, by the people and for the people who actually do the work. I have not personally encountered any company during my 15 years as a product development consultant that has successfully stepped away from a Phase-Gate PDP and employed what some might call "pure" Lean Product Development, but that doesn't mean such a company doesn't exist! If you know of a truly Phase-less & Gate-less company, please contact me because I would like to benchmark it. Some would say that Toyota has done it. Allen Ward actually wrote of the mechanisms that cause a development process, even the one he taught from Toyota, to break down. The recent news around Toyota leads us to believe Ward's forecast was right and that the company he said to emulate actually succeeded in executing those very failure modes for product development process break-down! Remarkable.
Perhaps the call to abandon Phase-Gate PDP's is really aimed at those that are installed by management consulting firms whose consultants have little or no hands-on experience developing technologies or products. The installation of these "canned" Phase-Gate PDP's typically do not result in a balanced Phase-Gate PDP built and "owned" by the people who have to use the doggone thing! Based upon my experience, I am inclined to believe this is the case.
Baking Lean into Your Phase-Gate PDP
Here are the Lean Principles & LPD strictures that work as they are blended into a balanced and reasonable Phase-Gate PDP designed by the same folks who have to develop real products by using it:
- Value is defined by the Customer
- Focus on value-added tasks, processes, products and services
- Waste is identified & eliminated
- Designed Flow and efficiency for all process elements
- Continuous improvement driving towards perfection
Lean Principles are easily modified to be applied to Product Development. The following list reviews these Lean Principles and LPD methods and best practices that PDSS recommends be considered for a reasonable Phase-Gate PDP.
- A source for conducting Continuous Improvement:
- Deliver Quality & Value at the pull of the Voice of the Customer (VOC).
- Eliminate Waste from Engineering and In-bound & Out-bound Marketing.
- Reduce Lead Time & bottle necks.
- Reduce Total Product Life-cycle Costs.
- Identify and Use Process Maps and Value Streams:
- Graphic illustration of value-adding sequence & movement of information, materials, objects, people, and various concurrent tasks or actions during product development.
- Visual Management:
- Graphically expose design waste & illustrate where to eliminate it.
- Set objective standards to reduce confusion, miscommunication & unnecessary forms of variation (remember some forms are good!)
- Illustrate an organized flow of value streams for design task efficiency.
- Error Proofing:
- Identify opportunities for errors & strive to make them nearly impossible to occur (proactive problem prevention).
- Standard Work:
- Establish standards & metrics for tasks and development transactions that are routinely repeated during the phases and gates of product development.
More Lean Principles from the Literature
The four key attributes of Lean Product and Process Development (adapted from Lean Product & Process Development, A. C. Ward, Lean Enterprise Institute 2007) include:
1) Entrepreneurial System Designer (ESD) = The Toyota Model for a Chief Engineer
One person responsible for integration of system engineering, aesthetic design, market & business success for a product
2) Teams of Responsible Experts
a) Strong functional excellence groups who master the development of Sets.
b) Possess creative tension relationship with ESD - the integrator of Sets!
3) Set-based Concurrent Engineering
a) Development of numerous concepts, computer models and prototypes for Subsystems, Sub-assemblies & parts / materials.
b) Integrate, eliminate, select and optimize elements from sets according to pre-determined design-manufacturing rules, constraints and space envelopes.
4) Cadence, Pull and Flow
a) Product Portfolio activation control plan to level load the development pipeline.
b) Designers design their own critical paths to pull the project through the phases of the Product Development Process.
c) Flow follows the pull of customer-based value to meet functional milestones & system-focused integration events - not arbitrary management deadlines.
And the following are 18 key attributes of the Toyota Lean Product Development System (adapted from Morgan & Liker's text of the same name):
· Defining & Driving value using the VOC.
· Innovate through exploring numerous conceptual alternatives.
· Leveling Task Flow in a Product Development Process.
· Establish a Systems approach to Product Development.
· Define Standard Work.
· Identify and eliminate waste across the entire value stream of product development.
· Define where to be flexible & adaptive (Agile Development link).
· Establish predictability in key outcomes (Design for Six Sigma link).
· Use visual forms of communication to drive alignment at all levels of product development & systems engineering.
· Set up a Systems approach for Leadership of Programs (ESD Chief Engr. Model).
· Define & enable Functional Excellence.
· Maintain technical competence.
· Organize for Cross-functional performance in an integrated System context.
· Establish early Supplier involvement in Critical Parameter Identification, Capability Maturation & Management.
· Establish a culture of continuous improvement.
· Use enabling technology in the context of your culture & people's specific needs.
· Define areas for standardization & enable a learning environment around these standards.
· Promote a systems culture & manage the transition / change needed to establish that culture.
All of the above are major contributions from lean principles and attributes from LPD as we know them today. They can be drawn upon to construct reasonable, balanced forms of customized Phase-Gate PDP's as we seek to prevent problems.
PDSS offers a complete set of training and consulting services to help companies integrate appropriate Lean principles and best practices from LPD so that product development teams and their leaders have a rational, reasonable and balanced approach to product development for the company's unique culture.
In summary, PDSS recommends:
1) Being mindful that "canned" Phase-Gate PDP's are only starting points at best.
2) Creating a customized Phase-Gate PDP, constructed by the actual users of the PDP.
3) Integrating selected LPD methods and best practices within the customized Phase-Gate PDP. Use those that make sense to the teams who have to produce the results needed to satisfy your customers.
