Growth and productivity are driven by innovation, but sustainable competitive advantage requires practical tools and metrics to institutionalize excellence in new product development and launch in the real world. This track is designed for practitioners looking for tangible ways to help their organizations win in the marketplace as well as proven tools to excel personally.

The PDMA Process, Execution & Metrics track will deliver lessons learned from the field. Examples of both successful and unsuccessful approaches to establishing repeatable business processes, defining and enforcing cross-functional performance measurement, and choosing and using information technology tools will be presented by the people closest to the action.

For product development professionals looking to get ahead and stay ahead this track offers:

• Case studies across industries on process change and barriers to change
• Specific resources including software tools, defined metrics, and contacts
• Peer references for experience sharing
• Approaches to internal selling: business case, team building, objection handling, project scoping
• Pitfalls to avoid when trying to make process changes in NPD&L

Track Chairs:

• Kevin O'Marah, Vice President, Research, AMR Research, Inc.
• Mauro Pennella, Vice President, Global Innovation, Diageo [Bio]

Track Team:

• Leah Thompson, Manager, Configuration Management, Dell / Product Group
• Mary Foltz, Director, Nextel Communications [Bio]

Innovation Dialogue: The Role of the Leader in Creating an Innovation Rich Culture

Leaders understand the need for innovation in their organizations as a critical driver of growth and change. Yet they often feel powerless getting people to be more innovative. The truth is people can be taught to "innovate on command", but the leader must trigger the organization on different fronts to bring innovation inside. This workshop outlines eight specific areas that will help leaders bring innovation to the forefront with the use of "trigger questions." Trigger questions provoke a leadership team to see innovation in a new light and take action.

Application of Lean and Six Sigma in Product Development

The presentation outlines a case study from Honeywell International regarding the application of lean and six sigma methodologies to reduce product development cycle time and cost. Information presented includes: (1) Findings and issues that existed in Honeywell's product development process (2) Overview of three different design strategies and the influence of a product's characteristics in utilizing each one (3) Honeywell examples demonstrating success in employing the different design strategies (4) The role of integrating the supply chain with product development (another Honeywell examples provided demonstrating this element).

Voice of the Customer - How Can a New Team Get it Right the First Time

Two years after its introduction to the company, Voice of the Customer has become a way of doing business at FedEx. When service changes are now proposed, one of the first questions asked by management is "Have you conducted VOC to make sure we are solving the right problems?" Still, most project teams are using VOC for the first time, which raises the question, "How do we make sure they do it right when they have never done it before?" The answer includes a combination of training, facilitation, benchmarking and feedback mechanisms for management. Another challenge with this type of implementation is aligning with tools used later in the process. VOC fits well with QFD and quantitative research, but links need to be defined in order for them to be effective. During the presentation, we will describe ways we addressed the challenges and how we fit VOC into our processes.

Tapping the Power of User Trials - The Story of Motorola's web-based TRYMEMOTO User Feedback System

Two years ago, Motorola's Mobile Device Business enlisted cross-functional cooperation to develop a repeatable process that would decrease the burden of user trials for new products while increasing their value. The result was TRYMEMOTO, a web-based system for capturing user experiences with new products prior to launch that has revolutionized the pre-launch process. Eighteen months after its inception, TRYMEMOTO is integrated into processes such as the product readiness review, steadily winning converts as it proves its value to a variety of internal parties, such as call centers, software engineers, hardware engineers, product marketing and management teams. It provides data to analyze user issues across and within product trials as well as standard metrics that support Six Sigma management.

Redefining Your Brand Through Innovation and Process Execution

You have a commodity product in a mature industry that is resistant to change. How do you innovate to provide enhanced customer value and competitive differentiation? Through co-location of resources, the adoption of a Stage-Gate® process, and leading-edge software tools that support the company's product development strategy. National Gypsum, the country's second largest manufacturer of drywall, has made great strides in the last few years in positioning itself as an industry leader in innovation. Join Jennifer Willson, Senior Scientist and Frank Stola, Product Manager, Gypsum Systems for National Gypsum, as they explore their company's journey toward redefining itself - its successes and challenges - and the approach used to introduce a structured portfolio process that encourages innovation and market leadership