A process of identifying & solving barriers to product development team success PICMET 2010 conference

Developing major new products is a major corporate undertaking. As a general rule, the more complex the product the more likely difficult issues will develop which can retard development success. This presentation is a case study of one development team in the medical device industry and how the numerous problems it faced were identified and resolved. We employed a survey of the key team members containing both closed and open-ended questions. The results were tabulated and then presented to the team for their additional comments/suggestions. The team and the authors then devised a plan for resolving the major issues identified. Upon completion of the project, follow up interviews were conducted with the team to assess how the team process assessment performed and how it contributed to the successful development of the new product. Suggestions were also made regarding how to improve the process. The authors conclude with suggestions how the team improvement process can be used with other development teams.