Entroids.com

Stage Gate & Lean Startup

Methods Provide Clarity On

“What” To Do In NPD And

Project Management Tools Are

Required For “How” To Manage

NPD. Entroids is the best way

New Product

Development

Entroids way

Contents

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The Problem

The What & How in NPD

The Solution

Why use Think-Plan-Do Framework

Tier 1 – Think Project Needs

Tier 2 – Create the Tactical Plan

Tier 3 – Focus on Right Actions

Make accountability & Focus a Habit

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The problem Many New Products Fail Because They Are Poorly Managed In

Execution

Over 90% of new products fail. Poor execution of a great idea is one of the top

reasons for failure of a great idea. New product development (NPD) is challenging

because it needs to be nimble and lean.

In NPD, change is the norm.

Market requirements change as

you experiment and learn from

customers. Technology risks

frequently throw challenging

curve balls. Adding to the frenzy,

schedule changes frequently. If

anything, it might get pulled up

with new customer commitments.

Execution needs to be lean for many reasons. The team has to change course

frequently to avoid wasted resources and money. It is easy to run over budget and

waste time by working on the wrong things. Team members often work on multiple

projects. This makes it difficult to communicate and focus on the right things. Team

members are constantly drawn to and get bogged with constant firefighting in

ongoing operations and urgent tasks. Squeaky wheel always gets the grease; hence,

busy work can bury what is important.

Chapter 1

Poor execution of commercialization is a top reason for new product failures. Chaotic world of NPD requires execution to be lean and flexible – to avoid wasted effort and resources

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NPD projects use methods like Stage Gate

or Lean Startup as a guide for “what” to do in

execution and some kind of project management

tools to collaborate and organize for “how” to

deliver results. The “what” and “how” are important

in success. “What” to do is well researched. There

are many methods like Stage Gate roadmap by

Dr. Robert Cooper or Lean Startup process by Eric

Riese. But, “how” to deliver results is ad hoc at

best.

Project management tools are used in “how”,

but they do not serve the needs of NPD.

Conventional project management tools are task

and collaboration tools. But NPD needs more.

NPD requires disciplined action, which is a

combination of sound tactical planning and timely

action. It behooves on the project leader to do the

tactical planning and adjust tasks and actions in

real time. The project manager becomes the

project sitter.

Conventional Project Management Tools do

not Meet NPD Needs

• Project management tools in the simplest

format are task management and

collaboration tools. These are great for

small projects and personal productivity.

Ex: Trello, Basecamp etc.

• Conventional project management evolved

in the construction industry through Critical

Path Methods and ways to maximize man

and machine utilization. The end goal is

defined and tool ensures the fasted and low

cost way to achieve the end goal.

Ex: MS project

• With the surge in IT projects, Scrum and

agile tools were developed to convert the

story boards to functioning software

products.

• In NPD the end goal is not defined and the

story board is uncertain. Market and

technology risks exist. NPD execution

needs to be lean and flexible. Entroids is a

tool made for engineering and technology

NPD.

The “What” and “How” in

NPD execution Stage Gate Or Lean Startup Methods Provide Clarity On “What” To

Do In NPD And Project Management Tools Are Required For “How”

To Manage NPD

NPD requires disciplined action which is a combination of sound tactical planning and timely action. Conventional project management tools do not help with both.

Chapter 2

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Project management in NPD is little art and little science

Conventional project management

tools need a lot of work to create and

maintain. When change is the norm,

maintaining changes is a constant chore.

These tools do not help you determine

what is important, and identify tasks that

slipped through the cracks or which team

member needs help in focusing on right

priorities or which important risks or

requirements are slacking and which

ones are getting most momentum.

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Think-Plan-Do framework

for product development

connects the high level strategic

project needs to daily actions

and gives the ability to easily

step back and forth from high

level needs to actions deep in

the trenches of execution.

The framework has a

three tiered structure. At the top

tier are the important project

needs such as risks, milestones

and requirements. The second

tier is the tactical plan. Plan the

major tasks required for each

high level project need. This is

the bridge from strategic project

needs to activities. The third tier

is where all the actions reside.

These are the nugget sized

actions required to complete the

planned major tasks.

If you are planning a long road trip, it is likely that you will use the zoom

functionality in the mapping software while planning activities on route. You do not

pan through several hundred screens at street level. Yet, with Gantt tools that is

exactly what it feels like when you pan through hundreds of rows of tasks. In product

development you need the ability to zoom into tactical details and then be able to

zoom out to higher level to see the lay of the land and be able to zoom into another

area of the project execution.

The Solution Entroids introduces the “Think-Plan-Do” framework for execution –

A GPS for NPD journey

Think-plan-do framework links strategic project needs to team’s current actions – enabling you to zoom in and out of your execution journey like google maps

Chapter 3

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Spend less time in planning

Reacting to change in project management is a breeze.

Whether a high level need changed causing a different

tactical plan or if there is new learning in the field that

affects a high level need. The changing course is visible

and easy to manage, because of the linkage of tactics

and plans through the three tier structure.

Communication

Communication of the changing priorities and focus

becomes easy. This is no longer dependent on the

project leader.

Lean execution

The tight alignment from the top and down ensures that

there are no wasted efforts.

Visual Management

Visual dashboards improve transparency and

productivity. Dashboards quickly provide revealing

insights on problems in execution.

Thought Leadership Put Into Action

We learnt from experts and packaged

the principles in a easy to use practical

tool. Some of the sources of inspiration

are below;

• The Lean Startup By Eric Ries

• Business Model Generation By

Alex Osterwalder

• Execution By Larry Bossidy & Ram

Charan

• First Things First By Stephen

Covey

• Mastering Lean Product

Development By Ronald Mascitelli

• The 4 Disciplines Of Execution By

Chris McChesney & Sean Covey

Why you use Think-Plan-Do

framework Smart diagnostics and analytics help reduce cognitive load

required to update and manage projects

Automate accountability

Visually see each team member’s progress and contribution. Switch between team view and

personal view in all tiers with a simple toggle.

Smart diagnostics

Quickly see what slipped through the crack s with built in alerts and diagnostics. This reduces

the cognitive burden and human dependency in critical functions.

Reporting

Automatic reports for executives and team members in multiple formats

Chapter 4

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Think-Plan-Do Framework for NPD execution

Tier 1: Strategic Project

Needs

Not Strategy but Project

related most important

needs

Tier 2: Tactical Planning

Execution Plan – For Each

Need

Tier 3: Focus

On Actions

What needs to

be done now

Entroids Way

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At the core of NPD there are

four pillars of execution in the project

management. These identify the most

important project needs. Success

depends on defining and executing

on these four pillars. Below is a

description of each pillar and is

presented as a separate visual tool.

The four tools can be accessed in the

THINK tab on the website.

The four pillars of execution 1. Business Model Canvas

A product (or service) is a solution to an urgent and

widespread problem. The solution starts as a hypothesis based

on several assumptions. There are nine important types of

hypothesis to consider that are captured on the business model

canvas. State the hypothesis on the one page canvas and create

experiments to validate and refine the product and solution.

Tier 1 -Think Project Needs

(Think-Plan-Do)

Think tier is the connection to strategic planning. These are the

most important needs for project to succeed

The four pillars of execution are Business model hypothesis, Risks, Product Requirements & Milestones. THINK tier provides visual tools for each pillar. It is the link to strategic planning.

Chapter 5

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2. Risks

There are two broad types of NPD projects -

evolutionary and breakthrough products. Evolutionary

products are derivatives of an existing product, and

breakthrough products disrupt existing market and

products. Both are important, evolutionary products

meet existing customer needs and keep the lights on.

They are important to sustain an organization.

Breakthrough products are important for long term

growth and adapt to technology and market changes.

Any NPD project has significant risks.

Evolutionary products primarily have schedule and

quality risks and breakthrough products have

significant market and technology risks. Understand

the risks and mitigate them through the execution

journey. Identify your risks in the risk manager tool

and actively mitigate them through appropriate

tactical plan and timely action. Visual dashboard

communicates the severity of risks in terms

probability and impact.

Five Areas of Risk

There are five broad areas of risks:

Product: A tangible object, technology or service

offered for sale

Market: A commercial activity where goods and

services are sold

Business: A commercial enterprise that

produces a product or service to be sold in the

market

Finance: the capital and cash flow required to

achieve milestones that lead to success

Execution: the experience, skills and processes

required to carry out a business plan.

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Impact

Pro

bab

ilit

y

The famous one page business model canvas

by Alex Osterwalder has been adapted to make it

more actionable for engineering NPDs

9 segments In A Business

Model Canvas

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3. Requirements:

A product delivers value to customers through a

set of features. NPD execution delivers these features

at reasonable costs and effort. Not all requirements

are equal. There are core requirements that deliver

the value proposition and there are other

requirements that add expected functionality and

improve usability. Lean startup methodology

introduced the concept of MVP. Build an MVP of the

core features and test the value proposition with

customers. Get feedback and refine your features.

This is an ongoing process till you have verified and

refined all the features.

Manage MVP and feature development through

visual tools to evaluate requirements on value

delivered Vs effort required. Create validations and

deliverables and manage their execution seamlessly.

4. Milestones:

Guy Kawasaki said execution is about managing

milestones, assumptions and tasks. Create

milestones in the milestone tracker. If you use stage

gate process by Dr Robert Cooper, the gates can be

your milestones. Or you can create your own

milestones. Create deliverables and actions to attain

milestones. Visually track each milestone as to

required date vs expected date based on the

underlying tasks.

Great leaders think like a strategist and plan like a tactician. The ability to combine both is rare and makes the difference Entroids seamlessly makes the connection between strategic thinking and tactical planning

Effort

Va

lue

Required vs. Estimated

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Tier 2 - Plan Major Tasks

(Think-Plan-Do)

Lay the foundation for execution. Create the tactical plan by

defining major tasks required for every need in the Think tools.

Strategic project needs identified in the four pillars lead to the plan tier, which is

to translate the ‘needs’ into tactical plan. For each need identify one or more major

task. Major tasks for risks should be mitigation, requirements should be validation,

assumptions on canvas should have experiments etc. The major tasks should be

complex requiring significant effort. Generalize and combine actions to create planned

major tasks.

Creating the major

tasks is the trickiest part

of using the think-plan-do

framework. Resist the

temptation to create

actions as tasks. Think

of Major tasks as goals

in execution, driven by

project needs defined in

the four pillars.

Create the tactical plan for each strategic project need. PLAN tier provides a visual Gantt chart to create the tactical plan. Each THINK need is automatically linked to a PLAN item for usability

Chapter 6

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Productivity expert Stephen Covey uses the analogy of filling jar with rocks and

pebbles in explaining planned major tasks. If you have to fill a jar with rocks and pebbles,

you achieve more by placing the rocks first and letting the pebbles fill the gaps around the

rocks. If you put the pebbles first then there is not enough room to put the rocks.

Likewise, in ‘task manager’ plan the rocks of your execution. Tasks are visually managed

in a Gantt chart.

Each task is executed with many smaller actions. Within the task you can create a list

of actions required to execute. In the next section we will show how to create a “pull

system” for activities in execution.

Think-Plan-Do framework separates the rocks from the pebbles in execution. Achieve more by focusing on what is important

Achieve more by first placing

the rocks. Don’t sort the pebbles

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Activities are nugget sized

actions that need to be done to

complete the major tasks.

Separating smaller actions from the

Gantt chart makes execution lean.

Gantt chart is not cluttered by many

smaller actions making it easier to

update and maintain. It also helps

to focus on the important tactical

goals without sorting through a

myriad of actions. A separate

‘Current Activities’ tool helps you

visually manage all important

actions on an activity board. These

are presented as sticky notes

The reality of ongoing operations is that we are constantly pulled into urgent fires to tackle.

Important activities are easy to get buried in the whirl wind of daily distractions. Stephen

Covey says if you spend more time on the “important” actions then the “urgent” would

disappear. Current Activities tool is the visual dashboard of your “important” actions and

keeps them in front of you.

Focus on the right actions

(Think-Plan-Do)

Execute the tactical plan with each nugget sized action at the right time. Create a pull system of current activities for each planned item in the DO tier.

Chapter 7

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With Entroids, you spend less time in planning

and more on doing. It is important to establish the

discipline of using the tool appropriately. Every day,

each team member should review his activity

dashboard and update his sticky notes appropriately.

This takes 10 minutes or less but is an invaluable

reminder of the important things. To create a habit, it

helps to tie it to a trigger. Create your trigger to

review the Activity dashboard once a day. For

example, if you drink coffee, let the first cup of coffee

at work trigger you to open the current activities

dashboard and review them. If you are not a coffee

drinker, tie it to any other established habit that you

do consistently.

Have a team meeting about once a week or any

cadence that applies to your product. In the meeting,

as a team, review and update ‘Tier 1 project needs’

(four pillars of execution in the Think tab on

Entroids.com) and the ‘Major Tasks’ (Task manager

in the Plan tab on Entroids.com).

Other things to consider doing in the team

meeting are reviewing the reports, alerts and visual

dashboards. Catch cracks in your execution and

make corrections. In the risk and requirement

dashboards, look for high risk and important

requirements items (top right quadrant, in the visual

dashboard) that do not have planned tasks, see

which item had most momentum in your execution.

In the milestone tracker, see the required date

and expected date for each milestone and if the

milestone is expected to slip, explore its related tasks

and see what needs to be done to pull it up. In the

task manager, all tasks in the current period should

have activities, or else you are not moving them

forward.

With Entroids, you will spend less time in planning and follow up. Visual tools and TPD framework keeps important things in focus automatically. It is extremely important to build the discipline of using entroids in a systematic way.

Making accountability & focus

a habit

Chapter 8

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About this e-Book

‘Entroids way’ E-book explains the philosophy of think-Plan-Do

framework for managing execution of NPD. Entroids is the best way

to manage if you use Stage Gate or Lean Startup methodologies. It

is created by experienced product managers, in combination with

inspiration from thought leaders like – Steve Blank, Alex

Osterwalder, Eric Reise, Stephen Covey to name a few.

The framework visually links strategic project needs to tactical

planning and daily actions. This allows smart diagnostics. This

makes it easy to make changes on the fly and minimize effort

required in managing programs and improve team communication

and accountability.

Watch this video to learn more