Lean Innovation Interview with David Paulson
David Paulson, our CEO was recently interviewed by Chad McAllister on his blog, "The Everyday Innovator." Highlights from the interview are below. The complete podcast can be found on Chad's blog.
Highlights from the discussion include:
Apply Lean product development to cut time to market in half and create successful products – something all innovators want to know how to accomplish!
Lean has many different definitions, but in the product development context, it has three specific characteristics: (1) focus on value to the customer, (2) rapidly learn, and (3) maximize desired results while minimizing effort.
In addition to the benefits of creating more profitable products, applying Lean product development also impacts the organizational culture, resulting in happier and more effective employees.
Lean is related to Agile development as both are trying to get the right product to customers more quickly.
Compared to phase-gate type of development approaches, Lean works in smaller chunks to increase efficiency and reduce waste.
The first time David applied Lean product development to a project, the time-to-market decreased from the expected 30 months to 12 months. The project finished 20% under budget, and generated an additional $3 million profit by being early to market.
Good books on the topic of Lean product development include “Managing the Design Factory,” by Don Reinertsen and “The Principles of Product Development Flow,” also by Don Reinertsen. David recommends reading “Managing the Design Factory,” first.
Innovation Quote
“If you do what everyone else does, you will get what everyone else gets.” – Stephen Richards
