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News from PDSS Inc.
"Leading the Future in Product Development" 
June 2010- Vol 3, Issue 6
In This Issue
Proceed With Caution! Fast Track Commercialization
Greetings!
In an excerpt from Skip Creveling's book, Six Sigma for Technical Processes, we review how to avoid the risks of Fast Track commercialization. We'd love to hear your stories, too! Next month, we will conclude the subject with "bare minimum" tool-task sets for a Fast Track project.
-Carol
Proceed With Caution! Fast Track Commercialization
Everyone knows that product development is supposed to be done in an orderly fashion, following an established phase-gate process and performing the appropriate tasks to produce a successful product. Sometimes, however, a set of circumstances arise that make it worth the risk to quickly push a project through the phase-gate process. You might call this "rushing" a project. This is Fast Track Commercialization, and this article will help you identify and prepare to mitigate its risks.
 
Fast Track vs. Lean
 
What's the difference between a true Fast Track project and a Lean project? Most projects should be "moved" along and not rushed. The pace and flow of a Lean development project is governed by the proper design of a balanced flow of value-adding tasks that focus on fulfilling requirements that are directly tied to recently gathered customer needs.
 
A Fast Track project is beyond what you would consider Lean. Some value-adding work will be left incomplete-and some not done at all-until after the product is launched. In that case, DMAIC problem-solving teams are (or should be!) standing by to complete the work.
 
A Fast Track project may violate other Lean principles if it is driven by breakthrough technology or innovative features rather than true Voice of the Customer (VOC) data. In these cases, customers may not be aware they wanted or could use the product! (Think the mouse and GUI technologies!)
 
Two Things Mitigate Fast Track Project Risks
 
OK, you've decided your project is a high-risk, high-reward, Fast Track candidate. What do you need? Well, besides steady nerves, you really should have 1) excellent technology development capability and 2) an excellent DMAIC problem-solving team ready to deploy post-launch, pre-planned reactive activities.
 
1) Technology Development Capability
 
If your Fast Track project depends on a new technology, ideally it was not rushed through your research and technology development process. The technology used in a Fast Track project must be stable, tunable and robust. It is extremely difficult to be successful if you rush both technology development AND product commercialization processes. It's always better to get the technology done properly than take the risk of rushing the product in which it is embedded.
 
2) Post-Launch DMAIC Team
 
If you wish to maintain your good reputation, someone is going to have to clean up after the results of the abbreviated Fast Track project. You must have a highly-skilled, experienced DMAIC team with the following characteristics ready to deploy.
 
i) A hierarchy of master black belts, black belts and green belts that work well together as a team.
 
ii) A record of successfully completed projects that have fixed problems similar to the ones you will intentionally create during the Fast Track projects.
 
iii) Knowledge of critical parameter management (CPM), as they will be finishing the development and validation of the product/production system CPM database.
 
iv) Knowledge of robust design, tolerance design and system integration and balancing. Some DMAIC training programs do not address these toolsets, so you may need to place DFSS black belts with product development skills on the post-launch DMAIC team for these skills.
 
Think "pit crew" or SWAT team levels of competence and teamwork. These people will get a bit of a mess handed to them. They will be responsible for finishing tasks that are known to be "not done by design", as well as dealing with the surprises that inevitably occur during development. It is essential that everything that wasn't done during the Fast Track is well-documented for this team.
 
One More Thing
 
A true Fast Track project only comes around once in a while. If your business has developed a habit of rushing all or most new products to market, then your product portfolio renewal process should be improved to balance risk profiles across your growth projects. The best strategy is to plan carefully during portfolio renewal and research and technology development; then it's possible to rip through commercialization at a pretty good clip; then you can either Fast Track or simply move a project at the normal pace, depending on competitive pressures or market opportunities.
 
This article is excerpted from Chapter 7 of Skip Creveling's book, Six Sigma for Technical Processes. Next month, we will explore a Fast Track project's bare minimum tool-task groups for each of the phases, Concept, Design, Optimize and Verify (CDOV) of product commercialization.
 
Do you have a Fast Track Commercialization Story?
 
Do you have a Fast Track story to tell? Let us know if you have any words of wisdom to add! Simply reply-to this email. Thanks!
Is there a topic you'd like us to write about? Have a question? We appreciate your feedback and suggestions! Simply "reply-to" this email. Thank you!
 
Sincerely,
Carol Biesemeyer
Business Manager and Newsletter Editor
Product Development Systems & Solutions Inc.
About PDSS Inc.
Product Development Systems & Solutions (PDSS) Inc.  is a professional services firm dedicated to assisting companies that design and manufacture complex products.  We help our clients accelerate their organic growth and achieve sustainable competitive advantage through functional excellence in product development and product line management.
 
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