Once you have developed the mission statement for the product, the next issue is how do you manage the product development process?

Essentially, we're trying to meet 2 targets.

1 is how do you reduce the time to the market while aligning the product to the users and market needs.

We manage the product development process by looking at the portfolio of products that we are managing, which is titled as doing the right things or balancing the product portfolio.

The second is, how do you actually manage the project itself?

That is doing things right, which would involve looking at the product development funnel, as well as the stage gates in the product development funnel.

Let's start with the portfolio itself, doing right things, which is the balanced portfolio of products.

What you see on the screen here is a company's portfolio of products.

The circles out here represent different products that the company is working on.

The different colors indicate different types of products that their company is working on, maybe different lines of business that the company has.

So you can see 3 different lines of business represented in this diagram.

What you see here is a spread of projects across the diagonal on the screen.

So you have some projects which are actually very small innovations, maybe brand new branding of an existing product or pack size changing of an existing product which is on the right hand lower corner.

And on the other side on the top left hand corner you have products which are big ticket projects which are looking at radical or breakthrough innovations.

And in between you have derivative products and new platform products.

Essentially what it means is that this company has a balanced portfolio of new products.

It has some products where they are trying to milk their existing market, where they are trying to make some minor improvements in their existing product and working with that and there are some products where they are trying to capture a new market by coming up with a complete breakthrough and doing something that nobody else in the industry has done.

So the 2 dimensions on this chart are 1 is what is the enabling technology which is being used.

The technology may range from just a basic technology which is currently used to a completely new radical technology.

And on the other dimension, you have what is the customer need which has been met.

Is it the same need which is being met by the current product or will it go all the way to meeting a completely new need which has not been met by current products so far.

If a company has a lopsided portfolio, for example if a company is working only on breakthrough products, that means that it may be undervaluing or under emphasizing on the value of working with their current products and milking them better.

On the other hand, if a company is not working on breakthrough products at all, it works only on the current products, then it may be shortchanging its future by not being in the market for new products when the competition takes over.


Speaker 0: Once you have developed the mission statement for the product, the next issue is how do you manage the product development process? Essentially, we're trying to meet 2 targets. 1 is how do you reduce the time to the market while aligning the product to the users and market needs. Both these targets are important. We manage the product development process by looking at the portfolio of products that we are managing, which is titled as doing the right things or balancing the product portfolio.

The second is, how do you actually manage the project itself? That is doing things right, which would involve looking at the product development funnel, as well as the stage gates in the product development funnel. Let's start with the portfolio itself, doing right things, which is the balanced portfolio of products. What you see on the screen here is a company's portfolio of products. The circles out here represent different products that the company is working on.

The different colors indicate different types of products that their company is working on, maybe different lines of business that the company has. So you can see 3 different lines of business represented in this diagram. What you see here is a spread of projects across the diagonal on the screen. So you have some projects which are actually very small innovations, maybe brand new branding of an existing product or pack size changing of an existing product which is on the right hand lower corner. And on the other side on the top left hand corner you have products which are big ticket projects which are looking at radical or breakthrough innovations.

And in between you have derivative products and new platform products. Essentially what it means is that this company has a balanced portfolio of new products. It has some products where they are trying to milk their existing market, where they are trying to make some minor improvements in their existing product and working with that and there are some products where they are trying to capture a new market by coming up with a complete breakthrough and doing something that nobody else in the industry has done. So the 2 dimensions on this chart are 1 is what is the enabling technology which is being used. The technology may range from just a basic technology which is currently used to a completely new radical technology.

And on the other dimension, you have what is the customer need which has been met. Is it the same need which is being met by the current product or will it go all the way to meeting a completely new need which has not been met by current products so far. If a company has a lopsided portfolio, for example if a company is working only on breakthrough products, that means that it may be undervaluing or under emphasizing on the value of working with their current products and milking them better. On the other hand, if a company is not working on breakthrough products at all, it works only on the current products, then it may be shortchanging its future by not being in the market for new products when the competition takes over.

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Week 1-Portfolio Management