In previous posts I’ve written about reports that are meaningless, misleading, and even damaging. (Yes, the last one actually causes your projects to...
In previous posts I’ve written about reports that are meaningless, misleading, and even damaging. (Yes, the last one actually causes your projects to...
Would you believe that a 10% increase in the workload on your teams could double the length of a project?
Most companies are trying hard to achieve predictable end dates.
One of the most difficult things about making process improvements is knowing where to start. Doing the wrong thing is a waste of time and money, and...
In general, companies can take two approaches to calculating risk exposure, a quantitative approach and a qualitative one. There are pluses and...
Resource loading is a critical project metric. Get it wrong and you could inadvertently commit to a seriously unrealistic project launch date....
Running a daily standup meeting seems pretty simple right? After all it’s just another meeting. Well not really. The daily stand-up process is...
Here is a simple formula for quickly estimating Cost of Delay: the profit lost per-month of delay.
Total COD = Lost Month Cost + Peak Reduction Cost.
In order to examine risk exposure and uncertainty in greater detail, let's look at the different types of risks --uncertain events...
We begin the analysis phase and look at risk drivers and the 5 Whys technique - a simple and powerful technique for discovering the root of the...
Agile principle 2: Welcome changing requirements, even late in development.
Software and hardware product development teams share important...
Golf. It’s a wonder anyone ever keeps playing. Sure, the greens are often in captivatingly beautiful locations. The views, fresh air and time with...
Accelerating product delivery has a direct impact on the profitability of your business. And because our number one raison d'etre is to get you to...
A couple of weeks ago we shared some Lean and Agile case studies that demonstrated how the benefits of implementing Playbook methods and tools far...
Self-empowered teams is a common goal for many companies. But most of the people we talk to feel it’s only a dream, or requires too much work to...
Mitigating a risk essentially means deliberately doing something to reduce risk exposure - to burn down the...
Projects are late one day at a time. So, ask yourself, do you and your team know the number one priority for today? Why does speed matter? Because...
You pretty much have to have your head in the sand not to notice the changes in hardware product design innovation and new product development that...
Milwaukee Valve won big implementing Playbook software and Lean project management. This Lean case study demonstrates how Lean transformation can...
A daily standup meeting or scrum meeting is a daily 15-min long meeting where each person spends a few minutes preparing, a few minutes discussing...
Here is our combined list of the three topic areas. More details are below.
Risk management has four steps. It is cyclical, and each risk, issue, question, and opportunity is put through the process as quickly as possible....
What is a shared project buffer?
To accommodate for the uncertainty in the work estimates and the resource’s availability to do the work, the...
A lot has been said over the last several years about the fallacy of increased productivity when a person multitasks. Lean, Agile, and the Theory of...
The first step in risk management is identifying risks and capturing them in a risk management spreadsheet. In risk identification and capture teams...
This is the ninth part in our in-depth series on Lean Agile project management.
We've covered a variety of Lean principles that have a direct impact...
Product development is a risky business. So how do you effectively minimize the impact of risks on your project? In short, you...
What is the difference between push vs pull?
In a pull system, teams pull tasks from the backlog. As opposed to a push system where work is pushed...
This is the fifth part of our series on Lean Project Management. In this post, we look at resource management.
A fundamental principle of Lean is smooth, continuous flow. Flow is achieved by eliminating turbulence caused when the flow through any process is...
The best project managers know the devil is in the details and communication between team members is the oil in the engine that makes project...
Our mission is to help engineers love their jobs. It’s what we do. So what makes people love their jobs?
Gallup gathered data from over a million...
This is the second part of our series on Lean Agile Project Management.
In Part 1 we recognized that one of the primary drivers of success in product...
Feeling like you are using the wrong tools to achieve your product development goals?
This is Part 1 of a series of posts on Lean Project Management
So how do you increase certainty in project decisions. In part we can increase certainty by increasing the accuracy of our impact estimates.
The Return on Investment in project risk management is high, and therefore worth the effort.
Shipment delays in product development happen. Packages get lost or dropped off at the wrong location. As a result projects can get delayed more than...
How do you make project decisions based on their impact on profit? Here are some...
In order to make project decisions such as whether or not to add a new feature, we need an economic model. Cost of Delay is one input into this...
The purpose of visual work management software is, among other things, to make knowledge work visible so that it can be effectively managed.
In...
In this post I want to step back from the details in the series on the underlying principles and why they are so important and instead take a quick...
The goal of developing new products is profit. And even though we intuitively know it's important to get to market sooner, do you really understand...
Taking a product from idea to launch is not a simple task. Projects are complex and when you are dealing in the world of hardware development, you...
Feeling like you are using the wrong tools to achieve your product development goals?
This is Part 2 of a series of posts on Lean product...
Feeling like you are using the wrong tools to achieve your product development goals?
This is Part 1 of a series of posts on Lean Project Management...
Did you know traditional methods of project management supported by software products like Microsoft Project have been around for over 50 years?...
While on a recent trip to New Zealand to ramp up a new client, I took a little time after work to see some sights. Coincidently, I was also...
I recently read the new book Team of Teams – New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World, by General Stanley McChrystal. I’d like to share some of my...
What are the key principles of Lean product development? Here are seven, that if applied correctly, can transform your product development process.
Achieving project flow is what enables project teams to have greater confidence task completion and launch dates. At Playbook, we have found that...
At Playbook it's our mission to help you change the world faster! So, we have a number of free resources available on our website to help you on your...
Designing a new product with an architectural runway means supporting the business' ability to "land" new features...
Got time to read a book? Lately, neither do I. That's why I was very excited to find these 8 short video interviews with Don Reinertsen. In minutes,...
Elon Musk wants you to be inspired. He wants you to be inspired by the future. To him, an inspired future means we are a multiplanet species...
Remember when you wanted to be a super hero?
Not like Superman, but someone who changed the world with great ideas that became cool products. A...
Where is my Model 3? Apparently Tesla customers are still asking Elon Musk this very question. (He just released the keys to new 30 owners 4 days...
Technology and innovation is alluring, mystical. And as such, once you’ve worked in an innovative company, with the innovative people that come with...
Know your current product development process could use a few tweaks or maybe a total overhaul, but don’t know where to start?
We’ve pulled together...
The first attempt to implement Lean product development is critical. If you don’t get it right, there will be more resistance on the next attempt....
I often hear companies use the excuse that their culture is preventing them from adopting Lean product development, or making other positive changes....
In my previous blog post I introduced two of Don Reinertsen’s books and explained how they contained dozens and dozens of great ideas around Lean and...
My last blog post was about an example of great packaging design from Girl Scout Cookies, and I pointed out that we can learn Lean and Agile lessons...
Effective product development teams are proactive learners. They thrive on change and active discovery and problem solving. In this environment, the...
In the previous two blogs I made a compelling case for Lean Product Development being the business opportunity of the century, and then gave an...
In this post, I want to share an incredible case study that demonstrates the unexpected results that can be achieved when you apply the proper set of...
"...Playbook added that catalytic capability to use all the other pieces in the right way."
As engineers we are empowered to create great things - develop innovations that change the world. In order to make these innovations a reality, we...
This is a guest post by Kathy Morrissey from Strategy 2 Market, a Playbook partner that specializes in new product development consulting for medical...
There seems to be some confusion about which works best for the hardware development process. This makes...
Lean methods and Agile principles recognize that it’s almost impossible to get anything absolutely right the first time. Testing and iterating are...
In a previous blog post, I mentioned how electronic lean/agile/kanban visual project management...
Visual management allows you to have tangible everyday conversations about the work in progress -- it makes work visible. It's such...
Welcome to Playbook’s Three Lean Links. Innovating quickly is on the top of everyone's agenda. But streamlining your hardware development process to...
What is Lean Product Development? The Lean landscape is confusing because there are many flavors of Lean. But here is our definition...
What is Lean project management?
Lean is any process improvement that substantially improves the throughput of your system, sustainably.
So, it is...
What is cost of delay? Understanding Cost of Delay is the key to making product development decisions based on economic loss or gain. In fact, the...
Welcome to Playbooks’s three Lean Product Development links. Innovation is on everyone's minds. It's a primary driver of company profit. Here are...
Great teams deliver great products. To win the game of product development, you need methods that inspire team thinking and teams that know how to...
Looking to create flow and improve your delivery timelines? In this post we share 3 free Lean training resources, including our on-demand webinar...
This post is a bit off the topic of Lean, but totally on topic for everyone interested in integrated product development. The changes taking place...
Whether you’re trying to quit biting your nails, snacking late at night, or transforming your culture to Lean, change is tough. For the latter it...
Let’s face it, Lean project management isn’t a topic that drums up a whole lot of interest in social settings.
This is generally what happens when I...
Does this sound familiar? Intuitively you know visual project management software is worth the investment, but how do you effectively communicate the...
At Playbook we are always looking for innovative ways to make projects move forward faster, while increasing project...
So what makes a great product development team? Here are three Lean links that will make you rethink your approach to "team!"
Looking for some new material on Lean thinking? This week we have a smorgasbord of big ideas from Don Reinertsen, Michael Balle and the Lean...
This is a guest post by Richard Lindstrom from eBOM, a Playbook partner based in Sweden. Richard attended the LPPDE conference in Raleigh, North...
Manufacturers have known for years that one of the primary tenets of Lean is to identify what the customer...
Due to the popularity of our blog series on Applying Agile to hardware new product development projects, we decided to create an easily shareable...
Evaluating risks starts by defining and understanding a project’s objectives. If there aren’t any objectives,...
This week we look at project risk and embracing uncertainty. Is a project team's ability to embrace uncertainty the key to success? After reading...
In this post we explore why it's time to do product development differently and introduce you to an apporach that works, Exploratory PD® (ExPD). ExPD...
Are you firefighting and multitasking to stay on top of your work? Are you wondering how to establish clear, correct and common priorities in your...
Looking to stimulate more innovation and agile problem solving in your organization? This week we explore methods for...
It makes sense that if you increase speed to market, you increase profit. Unfortunately, organizations are struggling to move hardware development...
Welcome to PLAYBOOK’s blog series: Three Lean Product Development Links. This week we cut straight to the chase with the three most popular blog...
Welcome to PLAYBOOK’s blog series: Three Lean Product Development Links. To deliver a great product, you need a great team. This week's Lean Links...
This is a guest post by Therese Graff from Strategy 2 Market, a Playbook partner about the importance of planning in Lean product development....
I heard recently some people in software development were proposing that there be ‘no projects’, because ‘projects’ create batches and stifle project...
David Paulson, our CEO was recently interviewed by Chad McAllister on his blog, "The Everyday...
Our value added reseller, eBOM, based in Sweden is attending LPPDE Europe and has shared some interesting images and insights into what’s happening...
This is a guest post from Strategy 2 Market, a Playbook partner based in Chicago. Strategy 2 Market provides Lean New Product Development consulting...
This is a guest post by Mary Drotar from Strategy 2 Market, a Playbook partner that specializes in new product development consulting for medical...
Our value added reseller, eBOM, based in Sweden is attending LPPDE Europe and has shared some interesting images and insights into what's happening...
The series explores the relationship between Lean Startup Principles, Knowledge Based Product Development, and Project Risk Management, and how they...
Gaining a strategic advantage through statistics and mathematical analysis is changing the game of product...
Welcome to Playbook's's blog, Lean and Agile product development blog. Running projects requires the ability to adapt to new information quickly and...
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