Innovate Products Faster: Graphical Tools for Accelerating Product Development

The prevailing view of innovation is wrong. The traditional view of product development is that there is a fundamental dilemma between innovation and time to market. You can have one or the other, but not both. However, this is not a physical law like Newton's law or the second law of thermodynamics, but rather a short-sighted view of management that likes to use the excuse "one or the other, but NOT BOTH". John Carter and Jeanne Bradford wrote this book to demonstrate that companies can have both innovation and speed. It requires mastery of tools and methodologies that will support managers in making better decisions faster. We're not talking about heavy processes or systems that require large IT installations. We're talking about tools that can be quickly understood and implemented. They are tactically straightforward, but strategically powerful. They are battle tested in over 50 of our client engagements, with measurable successful outcomes. And, they can be applied across different industries and a wide range of organizations, from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies. To address the need to get useful information in a condensed, straightforward manner, we've designed the book into "bite-sized" chapters. You don't need to read the entire book to realize its value. It's organized so the reader can quickly identify the tools they need to solve their biggest problems first. Using a novel graphical format, Innovate Products Faster provides a fresh perspective on how managers can deliver more innovative programs. In this world where we are overwhelmed by a high volume of information, have very limited time, and hold expectations of getting answers instantly, we are adverse to wading through hundreds of pages of text to mine out the few nuggets of needed information. This book concisely portrays the forty best practices that can be applied to predicting and then managing a project to successful conclusion. It is written and organized as a reference guide for readers to quickly identify specific areas of interest and includes completed examples of each practice as a head start. We have tried and tested each of these tools with managers from small startups to Fortune 500 companies (over 50 clients) and have applied our line management experience in the capacity of CTO, VP of Development, and Program Management (working for iconic brands such as Apple and Bose). Each best practice uses elegant graphics to illustrate the application of simple tools such as iPad Apps and Microsoft Excel. These downloadable apps are easy-to-customize, pre-filled templates, which are available with the purchase of the book. The existing competition in project management or product development (typically long, obsolete, and mainly text) lacks many of these key differentiators. Easy-to-navigate, short, and focused chapters Rich graphical tools for solving problems Downloadable software templates/apps Modern methodologies (Web 2.0, offshoring, Agile, etc.)