PA has recently surveyed leading companies to identify the key factors in successful product development. We talked to senior management and technology professionals in sectors ranging from pharmaceutical and medical device to large engineering and consumer products. The survey results provided the backbone of a packed agenda at the Product Development Symposium in Cambridge in May.
Hear the views of some of the product development leaders at the symposium by selecting the video top right of this page.
The event was co-hosted by Steve Carden, Leader of Product Development at PA and John Clarkson, Professor of Engineering Design and was attended by product development leaders from twenty organisations. The symposium considered a wide variety of challenges including recruitment, identifying product development leaders, how teams evolve, the key skills team members need and how culture and personal leadership style influence success.
People
Delegates identified a common need for integrators - those who understand the relationships between disciplines and the need to integrate specialists into multifunctional teams.
Teams
Dialogue centred on the challenge of forming teams that combine solid technical and project management ability with leadership that has the skills and experience to direct a team along a coherent journey, whilst maintaining alignment with goals and focus on delivery.
Leadership style and company culture
The group concurred that leadership style vested within the culture of a company is often less formally considered than technical excellence as a factor influencing product development teams. However there was clear agreement that the style and culture of an organisation is important in that it sets the tone in personal development, how teams interact on projects and how they revitalise when projects change.
The case studies and opinions presented throughout the day by the guest speakers built on these themes from personal experiences in successful companies, and critical observation of attributes contributing to successful delivery of new products from their organisations to the market.
The symposium concluded with widespread consensus on the challenges faced in finding and developing the key people, effective teamwork and the engaged leadership that need to be at the heart of successful product development. In addition many practical interventions were proposed for participants to consider for deployment back in their own organisations.
“We need people more than they need us” was the rueful reflection of one delegate, encapsulating the need to address the people challenges for sustainable success in developing innovative new products and transferring them successfully through manufacture to the marketplace.
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