A Manual For New Product Development Management

Kick-off

A manual for new product development management 1 Evaluation

Trusting

Focused

Visible

Hands-on

Guided

Involving

Project wall

Project wall Involving Guided Hands-on Visible Focused Trusting Evaluation Kick-off

Written and designed by Ingvild Sundby Part of master thesis Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 2007

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Project wall

p. 4 p. 5

Part 1: The six principles explained Involving p. 10 Guided p. 16 Visible p. 22 Hands-on p. 28 Focused p. 34 Trusting p. 40

p. 9

Part 2: An evaluation system

p. 48

Part 3: Kick-off week

p. 53

Kick-off

Evaluation

Trusting

Focused

Visible

Hands-on

Introduction An overview of the six principles

Guided

Involving

Contents

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Project wall Involving Guided

Introduction

Hands-on Visible

This manual outlines and explains six principles for projects in larger R&D departments, as well as an evaluation system and a guide for a kick-off week involving all project participants. All principles are complemented with cases from different high-tech companies, and a section with specific tips and techniques for successful principle implementation. The main purpose of the manual is to provide specific tools as well as inspiration for project participants and managers. If made use of properly, the principles should create a basis for a fun, efficient and quality-conscious development process.

Focused Trusting Evaluation Kick-off

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Project wall Involving

An overview of the six principles

Guided

Involving

Hands-on

Hands-on

Focused

Trusting

Visible

Visible

Trusting Evaluation

For successful use, the principles have to be worked with simultaneously. For instance, a Focused project in the shape of existent milestones and planned deliverables is useless without making it Visible to the project team. Trusting members to be able to do their work according to plan is difficult without initial Involving, and following the Hands-on principle by making prototypes

and mock-ups can be quite aimless without making the effort somewhat Guided. Such dependencies can be found between all principles, and are easily visualized in a spiderweb diagram. By measuring the presence of each principle and plotting these into the spiderweb, one achieves a quick understanding of the project’s strengths and weaknesses. How to perform an evaluation of the project this is explained in the manual’s second chapter. The manual will not explain how to conduct a process from a to z, but is to be used as a help for implementing the principles throughout a project. Figure 1 shows how the principles can be used practically at each stage of a

Kick-off

The purpose of the six principles outlined in this manual is giving project managers a tool for creating an effective and quality-conscious process. The six principles are Involving, Hands-on, Trusting, Guided, Visible and Focused. Each principle is described in detail in the manual’s first section.

Focused

Guided

5

Project wall Involving

development process. The basis for successful use of the principles is however mostly laid at the first stages of the concept development phase when participant number and complexity increases in the project. Chapter 3 outlines a kick-off week aiming to secure all principles at this critical project stage.

Guided Hands-on

The project wall The project wall should be the heart of any project, acting as the hot spot for information, inspiration, communication and creativity. All principles are represented by using the wall proposed on the next page (see colored lines). The wall should be complemented with some chairs, making it the natural place for the project group to meet and hang out. Through visualization of project progression, the wall will also work as a project

Visible Focused

Pre-project

Involving

Trusting

Guided

Hands-on

Evaluation

Visible

Kick-off

Focused

Trusting

Involve team managers, technical teams with project preparation. Adjust/create guidelines for project.

Concept Involve all stakeholders in a kick-off week.

Present guidelines at kick-off, consult guidelines during concept evaluations

Crude, fast mock-ups

Crude, fast mock-ups

Find storyteller

Make process visible by through the project wall

Decide market positioning, pricing, volume. Trust technical teams for project preparation

Decide visions and goals based on pre-project research. Trust technical teams with separate concept development

evaluation in itself as the source of eventual delay is quickly discovered. The project wall owner is the project storyteller whose responsibility is to structure and visualize all necessary information (more about this role on page 33). The wall should be as visual as possible, all deliverables should in accordance with the principle of Hands-on be tangible, and the storyteller needs to document these through photos and drawings. Ideas and challenges emerging during the project are mounted so that non-project members also can contribute with solutions, thus ensuring knowledge transferal across teams. The wall is simply made out of large pieces of cardboard and paper mounted on a wall at a place most project members walk past each day.

Feasibility Arrange short workshops with relevant stakeholders when needed. Consult guidelines when evaluating

Testable models

Prototype-iterations

Keep vision, goals, milestones, deliverables visible to all project members Trust technical teams with separate feasibility testing

Figure 1: Principles in relation to the development process

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Development

Trust technical teams with separate development

Project Project wall wall Involving

The project wall - the heart of the development process

Guidelines are mounted on the wall as reminders

The project wall is a living document where anyone can contribute. A pen is therefore mounted to the wall as a request for contribution.

Principle evaluation is shown as accessible evaluation of the project.

Guided

Project name - project vision

All activities, deliverables and milestones are colored in when done.

Pre-project

Concept

Latest diagram

Feasibility

Eco

Hands-on

Project Plan Development Milestones

Specific deliverables for each technical group at each milestone. Deliverables are to be visualized.

Visible

Progress

Delays are colored red

Ideas

Deliverables

Design

Mechanics Soft ware

Focused

Ind.design

Description planned deliverables

UX Audio Hardware Approvals

delivery

delivery

Latest summary

delivery

Trusting

Results

Evaluation

All results from each phase are visualized through drawings, photos of prototypes and short summaries.

Kick-off

The storyteller is responsible for documenting the process

Ideas and challenges emerging during the process are mounted here, and transferred to the results section if decided on.

All meeting summaried are gathered for easier access to the decision-making process

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Project wall

Involving

Guided

Hands-on

Visible

Focused

Trusting

Evaluation

Kick-off

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Kick-off

Evaluation

Trusting

Focused

Visible

Hands-on

Guided

Part 1: The 6 principles explained

9 Involving

Project wall

Project wall Involving Guided Hands-on Visible Focused Trusting Evaluation Kick-off

You know you are managing an involving project when..

..project members feel like they know the reasons behind their work. ..project members have a common understanding of project goals. ..project members know the main user challenges of the product. ..project members know the main development challenges of the previous project.

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Project wall Involving Guided Visible

Hands-on

Involving

Kick-off

Evaluation

Trusting

Focused

Involving all project members from an early start, including users, manufacturers and sales personnel, is a common trait of an integrated product development process. The method, also called concurrent engineering (CE), is inspired by the Asian way of working, and gained popularity in the US in the 1980s. Despite using up to ten times as much time on the early phases, the level of integration makes the further work run more smoothly and with little miscommunication. Also, getting together early lays the basis for a fun project with a strong element of ownership.

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Project wall Involving

What does involving mean?

‘Involving’ means physically gathering all relevant parties early and throughout the process to work together with project challenges.

Guided

Why involve?

By establishing a common understanding and coordination of tasks from an early start, the process will avoid misunderstandings and remodeling in its later phases. This does not only lead to reduced time to market (Figure 2), but also increased ownership, fun and learning.

Hands-on

Who to involve?

Visible

As a project manager, you want to involve as many interests as possible in order to avoid surprises later on. More specifically:

Focused Trusting

Interests

Reason

Management

Securing management support for further progression

Other project managers

Coordination with other projects

Members of previous project

Knowledge transferal

All technical groups

Technical feasibility, dedication

Users

Revealing ergonomic, cognitive, cultural, technical user issues

Manufacturers

Manufacturability from start, avoiding remodeling

Sales personnel

Facilitating for easy sell

Marketing

Facilitating for easy marketing

Evaluation

When and where to involve?

Kick-off

Involving is especially important in the early phases of the project when there are more variables to take into consideration. Involvement is also important in the later phases, but might not require the same amount of time. Having a permanent project room makes involvement easier, and can be used for spontaneous gatherings throughout the process.

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A study from 1987 by the American Department of Defence, showed that if handled properly, gathering people early could reduce time-to-market by up to 40% (see figure 2). It was believed that this was related to the avoidance of the “over-the-wall”-problem characterized by time-consuming patching up of previous department’s work in order to fit with the current team’s own tasks before “throwing it over the wall” to the next group (aptly

33%

Project wall 45% 22%

45%

Planning

Process Design

Design

Manufacturing

15%

Guided

CE

27%

8%

40% time savings

Hands-on

SE 3%

42% reduction in manufacturing cost, instrumental division

Deere & Co:

Apprxm. 30% reduction in development cost for construction equipment

AT&T:

At least 40% reduction in cost of repair for new circuit pack production

Cisco System:

Revenue increased from $27 million in 1989 to $70 million in 1990

Focused

Hewlett Packard:

Visible

described by Veraldi). By meeting up early, the teams gain understanding for each other tasks and the organization benefits by less suboptimization and increased efficiency. The method enjoyed wide recognition in both US private and governmental sectors throughout the 90s, the possible most known example being NASA. Other success stories include:

Trusting

“The auto industry is constructed with “chimneys” — engineering, marketing, suppliers. The prevailing attitude has been, “Don’t touch my field.” Design would pass its ideas to manufacturing, then manufacturing would claim that the design didn’t work. You have to get everything together working toward a common objective. If you don’t have teamwork, then the work isn’t devoted to the good of the product.” (1988)

Figure 2: Time difference between sequential engineering (SE) and Concurrent Engineering (CE)

Evaluation

As a reaction to the increased competition from Japanese car manufacturers in the early 80s, American car manufacturer Ford chose to try out a new method in their development process of the Ford Taurus. The method, very much inspired by the Asian holistic thinking, was characterized by the use of cross-functional teams from an early start and geographical collocation. The result was a highly integrated product which turned out to be the most sold car of its time in the US, giving the manufacturer a much needed financial boost. The project manager, Lewis C. Veraldi later remarked:

Involving

A story about collaboration in product development

Read more! Kick-off

J. Liker: The Toyota product development system, 2006 J. Liker: Concurrent Engineering Effectiveness, 1997

Source: S. Skalak, Implementing Concurrent Engineering in Small Companies. New York, NY: Marcel Dekker Inc, 2002

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Sucess factors

Time is especially important in early involvement. Hasty gatherings do not create a sound basis for interdepartemental understanding, and should thus be avoided. Also, thorough preparation by the project manager is decisive for workshop progression and results.

Guided

What involving is NOT

Hands-on

Involving is not the same as informing - that is only consulting groups after decisions affecting their work are made. This is not involving in its true sense, and will probably only alienate the non-included groups, reducing ownership and project dedication.

3 ways to make a project involving

Visible

1. Arrange an early workshop with all project members, users, sales, management (see part 3). 2. Make sure that all decisions involves the ones being affected by them 3. Arrange a trip to a customer or manufacturer for the whole project group

Focused Trusting Evaluation Kick-off

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Tips and techniques

The importance of user involvement

Guided

User involvement in the product development process is necessary for ensuring a usable and successful product. User involvement comes in many forms: Ethnographical observations, observations in a controlled environment, testing of ergonomics and cognitive factors and including the user directly in the developing process. By observing and testing users, one accomplishes several things:

Hands-on

1. Retrieving specific facts about user preferences, avoiding time-consuming guessing within the team 2. Gaining mutual understanding of the main user challenges 3. Revealing needs and challenges not visible to the super-users of the project team

Visible

User involvement is thus important for both an effective process and a high-quality end result. Letting the team see and experience the main user challenges for themselves is an effective way of unifying and focusing the team. The workshop guideline in part 3 of this manual contains a description of how to arrange for a customer field trip with included user observations.

Kick-off

Evaluation

Trusting

Focused

For more detailed user issues, like ergonomics and cognitive preferences, one needs to make use of experts in the form of ethnographers, interaction designers and/or psychologists. These have to be involved in the pre-project so preliminary user testing on relevant issues can take place in advance of project launch. Main findings should be documented and used on the same level as other project guidelines.

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Project wall Involving Guided Hands-on Visible Focused Trusting Evaluation Kick-off

You know you are managing a guided project when..:

.. there is little time spent on discussing personal preferences. .. there are no surprises regarding international standards etc. late in the process. .. there is minimal confusion about required ecological measures.

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Project wall Involving Guided Visible

Hands-on

Guided

Kick-off

Evaluation

Trusting

Focused

Even though involving groups for mutual discussion is paramount for overall project efficiency, certain decisions are best left to the few. Especially subjective issues, like styling, ecology and user preferences, and issues demanding high technical knowledge should be included in guidelines from an early start and not left open for much discussion. If followed, the principle will hinder everlasting discussions about personal preferences as well as inconvenient surprises in the late phases of the process.

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Project wall Involving

What does guiding mean?

A guided project makes use of some well founded guidelines on relevant project issues. These are to work as landmarks to navigate by for all project participants.

Guided

Why guide?

Having some guidelines in the process is crucial for project progression. Lack of guidelines can easily throw the process into an aimless landscape of personal preferences and taste, leaving the process lengthy and frustrating.

Hands-on

What to guide?

Visible

There are several issues which the project manager should consider establishing some overall guidelines for. Involving the right knowledge is crucial for their design, and the creators of the guidelines should brief the team about them on the first project workshop - in accordance with the principles of involving and trusting:

Focused Trusting

Guidelines

What

Creators

Technical

Audio, mechanical, hardware, software standards

Technical teams

Design

Product finish, style, looks, packaging

Industrial design

User Experience

Ergonomics, interface

User Experience

Ecological

Materials, paint, recycling, manufacturing, packaging

Eco-design responsibles

Evaluation

When and where to guide?

The project guidelines should be presented at the first project meeting and be visible to the whole team throughout the process.

Kick-off

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Extracts from Apple’s manual

Project wall Involving Guided Hands-on

- Place environmental stewards on every design team to identify design changes that may reduce environmental impact throughout the product’s life cycle. - Eliminate the use of polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame-retardants where applicable.

Visible

Apple’s interface guidelines Apple has created a set of guidelines for developers designing new applications. The manual is divided in Application Design Fundamentals, The Macintosh experience and The Aqua Interface and aims to secure consistent user experience for all products. The guidelines are highly specific, concerning everything from icon design to number of mouse-clicks to how to perform user observations.

Hewlett Packard’s eco-guidelines Hewlett Packard established its Design for Environment (DfE) program in 1992. The program includes a set of guidelines aimed at helping the developers achieving the company’s goals of reducing the energy needed to manufacture and use the solutions, reducing the amount of materials used, and designing products that are easier to upgrade and/ or recycle. HP’s DfE guidelines include the following recommendations:

Focused

Two examples of project guidelines

- Reduce the number and types of materials used, and standardize on the types of plastic resins used.

Trusting

- Use moulded-in colours and finishes instead of paint, coatings or plating whenever possible. - Help customers use resources responsibly by minimizing the energy consumption of HP’s printing, imaging and computing products.

Evaluation

- Increase the use of pre-and post-consumer recycled materials in product packaging. - Minimize customer waste burdens by using fewer product or packaging materials overall.

developer.apple.com www.hp.com/hpinfo/globalcitizenship/gcreport

Kick-off

Read more!

- Design for disassembly and recyclability by implementing solutions such as the ISO 11469 plastics labelling standard, minimizing the number of fasteners and the number of tools necessary for disassembly.

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Project wall Guided

It is important that the creators of the guidelines have enough time before project start to investigate the relevant issues. Some of the guidelines are not project specific, and should be created in a separate project for the whole product portfolio. Others need more specific handling, such as user preferences for the current product type. It is also important to make sure the guidelines are frequently updated and adjusted to current situations and needs. Furthermore, the guidelines should be to the point, and easily understood for all technical groups.

Hands-on

Involving

Success factors

Treating the guidelines as law is not real guiding. The guidelines are there to help out the project team when there are uncertainties in the process, but are not supposed to be followed at any cause

What guided is NOT:

at all times.

Visible

5 ways to make a project guided

Focused

1. Inform all project members about the existing project guidelines at the very start of the project. 2. Mount the guidelines by on the project wall to ensure visibility throughout the project. 3. Refer to the guidelines when there are uncertainties or conflicts within the team. 4. Create ownership by involving and trusting technical teams with preparation of project guidelines 5. Make sure guidelines are understandable, practical and specific

Trusting Evaluation Kick-off

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Tips and techniques

The language of guiding

Hands-on

Guided

Guidelines are the result of much work, often leading to extensive amounts of data. Even though these data might make up an interesting read, project members who were not involved in their development will probably not make use of them if kept too complex. Briefings and formulations of guidelines should therefore be conveyed through short, to the point and specific statements. “Think about the user” might work well as an overall vision, but will most probably be overlooked by members who don’t have competence about user involvement. Guidelines should be more in the direction of:

Visible

“All actions are to demand not more than three mouse clicks.” “No varnish on large surfaces” “All products in the new product portfolio are to have an element of extruded finish”

Focused

It is important that members know some of the underlying reasons for the guidelines, and these can be briefed about at the very start of the project. If members need to know more about the issues, the original data in the shape of manuals should be made easily accessible to the team.

Guide issue

Trusting

1. Main guideline 1 - Specific action - Specific action

Evaluation

2. Main guideline 2 - Specific action - Specific action

Kick-off

3. Main guideline 3 - Specific action - Specific action

Example guideline layout for project wall

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Project wall Involving Guided Hands-on Visible Focused Trusting Evaluation Kick-off

You know you are managing a Hands-on project when..

...you are failing sooner rather than later. ..there is understanding of main product challenges across technical fields. ..there are several concept iterations in every phase.

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Project wall Involving Guided Visible

Hands-on

Hands-on

Kick-off

Evaluation

Trusting

Focused

Hands-on, characterized by small amounts of documents and bureaucracy layers and high degree of engineery know-how is a typical trait for high-tech R&D departments. The principle leads to efficient developing and helps reveal problems early by the use of early mock-uping and prototyping. As design thinker Mark Dziersk writes: No one’s life was ever changed by a Power Point presentation.

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Project wall Involving

What does hands-on mean?

Hands-on means producing models and mock-ups instead of just talking about them. In a wider context, one can claim that Hands-on is the opposite of bureaucracy because of its fast and flexible nature.

Guided

Why hands-on?

Hands-on

A Hands-on project is an effective project. Through the use of mock-ups and prototypes, information is rapidly conveyed in a way that a thousand written words cannot. Making early mock-ups and prototypes help reveal issues that are not visible on a drawing or in someone’s head, and gives project members from different technical teams a better understanding of the common issues. Also, product iterations are dependent on the making of hands-on prototypes. Ideas being kept in people’s heads and in time-consuming discussions will not be able to go through clear iterations which might subsequently lead to unfortunate surprises later on in the process.

Visible

What to hands-on?

Focused

The Hands-on principle can be applied to a variety of different aspects:

Trusting

What

Reason

How

Looks, finish, size

Identifying issues in external layout and finish

Mock-ups with correct size and/or material finish

Technicals

Fast alignment between technical tasks

Mock-ups, prototypes made of wood, metal or anything else which fits the needs.

User interface

Identifying user challenges early

Paper mock-ups

Evaluation

When and where to hands-on?

Kick-off

Mock-ups should be made all through the process. Even though there are remaining decisions to be made, mock-ups should be created early as this will give the project members insights possibly affecting the further process. The principle of Hands-on is related to the principle of Focus since project managers should make sure that all deliverables throughout the project include physical models.

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Project wall

The importance of prototyping

Guided

Director of strategic design company Prospect outlines five rules about prototyping:

Hands-on

Cardboard prototype Apple

Involving

When Apple decided to develop an mp3-player, team leader Anthony Fadell made sure to create a number of mock-ups and prototypes. The team made the models out of foam-core boards and used fishing weights for obtaining just the right feel of their new product. The prototype helped to reveal issues not seen on a drawing board or on a computer screen. Other famous products with a trail of prototypes behind them include the Dyson vacuum, the Concorde, the bikini, Mickey Mouse and the Fender guitar.

1. Begin early The sooner you materialise ideas and get them in front of people, the richer your final design will be.

Focused

3. Don’t bother with perfection The prototype exists to get information, not to show how brilliant the design is. 4. Do just enough A little data goes a long way. Figure what you need to test and focus on getting those answers.

Trusting

Prototype of different materials, Dyson

Visible

2. Beat it up Make a modifiable prototype so you can easily adopt it, even on the spot.

Take-what-you-got prototype IDEO

Kick-off

Evaluation

5. Record the test If you don’t have a record, it didn’t happen.

Read more! Tom Kelley: Art of Innovation, 2001 Tom Kelley: The ten faces of innovation, 2005

Source: Design Council Magazine, Issue 2, 2007

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Project wall Involving

Success factors

Guided

Early mock-uping is key for succesfull principle use. It might be tempting to create the model when all decisions are made, but this will most likely only reveal issues leading to remodeling and possible delay. Another success factor is making a number of mock-ups in each round. This is important for investigating different alternatives and giving both management and project group a sense of ownership through active choice. Lastly, knowing which type of prototype to make when is important for project progress. A prototype which looks more thought through than what is the case might create a basis for bad decision-making. More on when to make what type of protoypes on the next page.

Hands-on

What hands-on is NOT

Visible

That a project is hands-on does not mean never documenting anything in written documents. Written documents are important for eventual deeper analysis of the processes and can consequently help creating better projects in a longterm perpective. This information is best handled by the project storyteller (see page 33).

Focused

3 ways to make a project hands-On:

1. Integrate requirements of making several mock-ups in all deliverables 2. Provide all project members with equipment of making fast mock-ups 3. Plan for several iterations in each phase.

Trusting Evaluation Kick-off

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Project wall

Tips and techniques

Involving

Which prototype technique when?

Guided

Even though prototypes should be made at all stages of the process, wrong use of techniques can damage the progress. A too fancy prototype at an early stage might give the impression that all aspects are well thought through - when they really are not. Decisions based on such models can lead to surprises and delays later in the process. The illustration below gives an idea of prototype complexity at different project stages.

Hands-on

Model complexity Level 4

Visible

Working prototype with right finish and style.

Level 3

Focused

Testable functional prototypes.

Level 2

Testable prototypes of individual parts

Level 1

Evaluation

Project finish

Kick-off

Project start

Trusting

Mock-ups made out of paper, cardboard or anything else at hand.

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Project wall Involving Guided Hands-on Visible Focused Trusting Evaluation Kick-off

You know you are managing a visible project when..

..all project members are fully aware of pre-project research and decision-making. ..all project members are fully aware of guidelines, milestones, deliverables and time-frames. ..there is trong project focus because of transparent task structure. ..sources of eventual delay are early identified and handled.

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Project wall Involving Guided Visible

Hands-on

Visible

Kick-off

Evaluation

Trusting

Focused

Making the project progression visible is an important factor for understanding the context one works in, thus making it easier to get the job done. In a small organization there is automatic visibility as employees easily see what’s going on around them. For a bigger company such lucidness is hard to provide naturally. Through certain measures of visibility one can however try to simulate the transparency and information flow of a smaller company, making the process leaner and more efficient.

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Project wall Involving

What does visibility mean?

Visibility is keeping all important aspects of the process known to the project group and management; goals, milestones, deliverables, current ideas and challenges, decisions, meeting summaries, project guidelines and eventual delays.

Guided

Why visibility?

Hands-on

Visibility is decisive for the understanding of the process for project members and consequently for project progression and efficiency. Project participants who know the context they work in are more likely to feel ownership towards the project and thus be more dedicated. Visibility makes it also easier to identify and prevent eventual delay, and gives all involved parties a better chance to fix the problem before it’s too late.

Visible

What to make visible?

Focused

The best way to make process progression visible is gathering all relevant information on one spot in the building, namely the project wall, complemented with verbal briefings by the storyteller at each team session.

Trusting Evaluation Kick-off

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What

Reason

How

Project name and vision

Keeping focus

Project wall

Project plan

Knowing time-frame, milestones and deliverables

Project wall, verbal briefing

Project story

Easy evaluation of project execution and progress

Project wall, verbal briefing

Current challenges/ideas

Cross-functional problem solving

Project wall, verbal briefing

Guidelines

Keeping track of guidelines at all process stages

Project wall, verbal briefing

Project evaluation

Accessible evaluation

Project wall, verbal briefing

Project wall Guided

Probability of communicating in a given time period.

Hands-on

The connection between organizational physical layout and ability to innovate has been known for a long time. Being able to meet across departmental borders create a flexible and knowledgeable organization. Thomas Allen, a researcher at MIT, has studied the interaction between people in relation to their physical position. It turns out that if people are more than 10 meters apart, the probability of communicating at least once a week is only about 8 or 9 percent (versus 25 percent at 5 meters). Figure 3 shows the so-called Allen curve, depicting strong correlation between distance and communication.

Involving

The link between physical layout and visibility

Physical distance between people

Trusting

Focused

Visible

In larger organizations Figure 3: The Allen curve where not everyone can sit in the same room, active initiatives for increasing the visibility in the building are needed. Some companies have tried to meet the challenge by incorporating so-called flexible team workspaces within their buildings, such as The Decker Engineering Building in New York, the Steelcase Corporate Development Center in Michigan and BMW’s Research Center in Germany. Creating hot spots with project walls, blackboards and perhaps a coffee machine are all important ingredients of this work.

Evaluation

IDEO’s headquarters is an example of a flexible workspaces

Read more! Kick-off

Thomas J. Allen: The Organization and Architecture of Innovation, 2006 Tom Peters: In search of excellence, 1987

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Source: Tom Peters, In search of excellence, Profile Business, 2004

Project wall Involving

When and where to make visible?

Guided

Visibility is important throughout the project, but possibly more important when members don’t work together. As the amount of information and complexity increases, it is important that all members have a clear understanding of decisions, actions and project progression. The storyteller is responsible for ensuring that project members have the relevant information through active use of the project wall and verbal briefings.

Success factors Hands-on

Since visibility does not happen by itself, a principle success factor is appointing a dedicated person for project visualization, a so-called storyteller. If this is not secured, important documentation, information and knowledge transferal might be lost. The storyteller role is more thoroughly explained on the next page.

Visible

What visible is NOT

Focused

Too much information can easily transform into noise, and it is thus important to keep the visible information to the point and relevant for the project. Cluttering the project wall with all sorts of things taking place at different project levels will most probably harm the information flow more than boost it. Also, important project information made visible only after clicking through 5 web pages is not visibility in its true sense, and should be avoided. It is the storyteller’s responsibility to decide what information to make visible, and what to store for later processing.

Trusting

3 ways to make a project visible:

Evaluation

1. Make a project wall (see page 7) 2. Appoint a project storyteller to make all important information visible 3. Brief about previous work at all project gatherings

Kick-off

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Project wall Involving

Tips and techniques

An important ingredient for successful visibility: The storyteller

Hands-on

Guided

Ideally, all project members should be present on all meetings, decision-making and research. This is however hard to accomplish, and that is why all projects should appoint a storyteller with the main tasks of knowing, documenting and communicating the project story. This is important for securing consistent and easy information to all project members. Large piles of documents will, like it or not, not be read, and the storyteller ensures that everyone still has the relevant information in order to keep focus and develop a high-quality result. The storyteller should be appointed before project start, in order to document research and decisions being made in the pre-project phase. The storyteller role should not be limited to a specific department, but be held by members from all technical teams. This secures knowledge transferal and help reduce suboptimization within the organization.

Visible

Storyteller qualifications: - Structured - Interested in project management and processes - Good presenter

Kick-off

Evaluation

Trusting

Focused

The storyteller is to: - Sum up and document all activities done by the project group - Sum up and document all activities done before project start - Sum up and document all decisions made throughout the project - Document all deliverables by photo, drawing or short summaries

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Project wall Involving Guided Hands-on Visible Focused Trusting Evaluation Kick-off

You know you are managing a focused project when..

.. there is little frustration as all members know what they are to deliver at what times. ..project members feel motivated as a result of clear and challenging goals. .. the project team works towards the same goals.

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Project wall Involving Guided Visible

Hands-on

Focused

Kick-off

Evaluation

Trusting

Focused

Focus is as any experienced project manager knows decisive for efficient project progression. Time frames, milestones, deliverables and goals are all ingredients of this principle. Even though Focus might be associated with control, most people actually enjoy and even need some frames in order to be creative. Unfocused processes make participants frustrated because they have to spend time figuring out time frames and deliverables. Establishing a clear focus limits developers’ work to the actual project and even adds some fun in the shape of performance and challenge.

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Project wall Involving

What does focus mean?

The focus ingredients include of all the traditional elements of a project; vision, goals, specifications, time-frame, milestones, and deliverables. It is the project manager’s task to make sure that the project team stays focused throughout the process.

Guided

Why focus?

Hands-on

Focus leads to efficiency and quality because it gives project members some specific goals to work towards. By having clear focus, the members can spend less time figuring out what they are supposed to deliver, and more time on development.

Who decides on focus?

Visible

Ownership of focus elements is decisive for compliance. It’s the project manager’s responsibility to create a focus framework of major milestones and deliverables, and the project team’s responsibility to fill the space in between with actions and deliverables. By involving members in the decisionmaking process, compliance of the goals through self-justice and ownership is more likely to occur.

Focused Trusting Evaluation

Elements

Who decides?

Launch date

Project management Launch date should be decided by the ones who have a + Team managers clear view of organizational capability.

Reason

Vision

Project team

Market, tech, user goals

Project management Project Team should have a say as these issues, espe+ Project team cially tech and user, are expertise areas within the team.

Deliverables

Project management Project management should have an overall outline of deliverables at each stage.

Creating a project vision is a great exercise for establishing a common understanding of the overall goals for the project team.

Kick-off

Specifications Project team + Project management might have an overall idea about Project management which competitive spec’s the final product should exceed, but should always involve the developers in the detailed description. Milestones

36

Project management A project team who is involved in deciding what to deliver + Project team when is more likely to respect and comply to the demands at the right time.

Project wall

Boeing’s 9 project rules

One Plan Everyone must own a copy of the plan -- the timing, the expectations, the responsibilities. Each team member must be able to march through the organization and beyond -- to suppliers and to vendors, for example -- and explain who does what, when, and why. Everyone Included We make sure everyone on the team -- from the seniormost designer to the junior administrative assistant

Involving Guided Hands-on

The Data Sets Us Free If there’s a conflict between team members, we don’t debate the issue endlessly or let the situation get personal. Instead, we sit down together with the data. If you have the right information, it will tell you what to do.

Visible

Propose a Plan and Find a Way A certain amount of frustration is understandable. And there’s nothing wrong with venting. We’ll all listen. But once you’ve vented, it’s time for all of us to find a way past whatever is bothering you.

Focused

Clear Performance Goals Everyone on the team -- engineers, designers, suppliers, administrative assistants -- must understand what’s expected of them. We specify who will do what at all levels within the team structure before we start a project. This prevents people from getting tangled up.

No Secrets Good news, bad news, whatever -- people need to know they can and should come forward if they need help.

Demonstrate Emotional Resilience Recognize that you’re under pressure, and that the people around you are under pressure as well. Try to be resilient in the face of that pressure.

Trusting

A Compelling Challenge Teams must pursue attainable goals -- end results that are neither vague nor so far beyond reach that they appear unattainable. At the same time, a team has to feel as though it’s being called upon to do something that takes a stretch. People won’t engage or feel motivated to excel if they don’t consider a project compelling.

-- knows how he or she fits into the plan, and why each person’s contribution is important.

Enjoy the Journey and Each Other We think we’re lucky because we’re working on exciting, impressive machines. It’s something we take time to enjoy.

Evaluation

Boeing makes some of the most complex products in the world, thus demanding top project performance in all tasks. The following nine rules don’t only apply to the development of new aircrafts, but to all projects within the organization. Use it as inspiration for your own project!

Kick-off

Read more! Scott Berkum: The art of project management, 2005 Clark A. Campbell: The one-page project manager, 2006

Source: FastCompany, Sept 2000: Boeing’s Rules Take Flight

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Project wall Involving

When and where to focus?

Establishing focus early makes it easier to keep it when deadlines are approaching. Goals and deliverables should furthermore be made visible to all members throughout the project.

Guided

Success factors

Hands-on

Successful focusing is a balancing act between facilitation and ruling. A project manager needs to know when to focus on goals and time-frames and when to open up for personal initiative and creativity. A major success factor for keeping focus is involving members when deciding on visions and goals. This will make the group focus by itself without constant reminders from the project manager. Ownership is in other words decisive for keeping focus in a project.

What focus is NOT

Visible

Focus does not mean dictating how developers create their solutions. The individual developer’s technical know-how have to be trusted. A project which leaves no room for personal initiative, flexibility and creativity will most probably lead to lack of team ownership and dedication, possibly risking delay and loss of innovation opportunities.

Focused

3 ways to keep a project focused:

Trusting

1. Letting the project group create a project vision and goals for user experience, market positioning and technological advantage 2. Make all deliverables and milestones visible for the project group 3. Create ownership to the deliverables and milestones by involving and trusting project members in the decision-making process.

Evaluation Kick-off

38

Project wall

Tips and techniques

Involving

The project vision - a source of focus

Guided

A project vision is a great way for ensuring understandable and consistent focus throughout the process. The vision is best made by the whole project group and should be based on briefings about market, user and technology. The project manager ensures direction by deciding what these briefings should focus on, but involves the project team in creating a vision for the project based on the briefings (see p. 62 for suggestion on how to do this). A successful vision is short and to the point and gives the project members a goal to work towards.

Hands-on

Examples of a vision might be: ‘Project name’ is to become the globally leading telepresence system for board rooms, catering to the executive user and making use of leading technology within audio and video. ‘Project name’ will be the easiest desktop teleconferencing system to use in the world. ‘Project name’ will become a company flagship of design and functionality.

Hardware

Objectives each technical group per delivery

Deliverable 1 Deliverable 2 Deliverable 3

Software

UX

Mechanics

Focused Trusting

Audio

User

Ind.design

Evaluation

Goals for each technical group

Technology

low

Degree of detail

Market

VISION

Visible

The vision creates a basis for the creation of goals for each technical group which again should result in specific project objectives. These are characterized by SMART, that is Simple, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound, and should be made in collaboration with the relevant groups. Objectives are delivery-related, and will be more specific in the later phases of feasibility and development than in the concept phase. Both vision and objectives have to be made visible to all project members throughout the process.

Kick-off

Deliverable 4

high

39

Project wall Involving Guided Hands-on Visible Focused Trusting Evaluation Kick-off

You know you’re managing a trusting project when...

...project members feel like they have influence on the final product. ...project members feel like their competence is valued and respected. ...project members are excited about contributing with their knowledge.

40

Project wall Involving Guided Visible

Hands-on

Trusting

Kick-off

Evaluation

Trusting

Focused

By establishing trust between management and team and among team members, the need for time-consuming monitoring and micro-managing will be reduced. Members who are trusted with responsibility will not only experience a greater sense of ownership, but will probably also contribute to faster and better decisions in the process, creating a basis for knowledge-based flexibility.

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Project wall Involving

What does trust mean?

Trust means relying on the project members’ technical competence, decision ability and interest for contributing positively to the project, plus actually giving them the freedom to do so.

Guided

Why trust?

Trust is one of the main factors for a flexible and fast process. With trust, project members will feel a greater sense of ownership to the process, thus making the progression fast and open to new solutions and ideas. Trusting members to work in smaller groups is also beneficiary for project progression as such sessions lead to higher group activity and consequently more results.

Hands-on

What to trust?

Visible

Project members should be trusted on their technical know-how. A project manager can instruct the developer when and which requirements the solution should fulfill, but not how these are achieved. As a rule, project focus should always be on deliverables, not actions. Also, trust might include:

Focused

Initiative

Reason

User observation

Reducing number of information layers

Guideline preparation

Creating ownership to the guidelines

Management briefings

Reducing layers between development and management

Trusting

When and where to trust?

Evaluation

Trust is important throughout the project. In the beginning, trust is important when involving members in the preparation of guidelines and briefings, and when working in smaller groups during workshop sessions. Later, trust is central when members work separately in their own technical teams.

Success factors

Kick-off

A major factor for successful trusting is early involvement. Without it, trusting members when working separately is not only difficult, but might also contribute to harmful miscoordination between tasks. Strong involvement also leads automatically to increased trust within the project group, tearing down misconceived notions about other teams opinions and needs.

42

Project wall Involving

Trust at Google

Evaluation

Trusting

Focused

Visible

Hands-on

Guided

work just as much as what does. In 2001 however, Google is the source for the perhaps most well-known the company consisted of a number of management initiative of trust - the 20% rule. At Google, all developlayers, which according to Wayne Rosing, head of ers are free to spend one day a week doing what they Google’s engineering ranks, lead to a structure tending feel is important, fun or necessary. It might be a whole to tell people “no, you can’t do that”. Google got rid new product or fixing something in a current project. of the managers and replaced them According to Vice President of User “There’s faith here in with teams usually consisting of three Experience Marissa Mayer, half of all people, with team leadership rotating new Google products originate from the ability of smart, among the members. At one point, the initiative, including Gmail, Google News, Orkut and AdSense. well-motivated people Rosing had 160 direct reports, something which he says worked just fine: to do the right thing.” “It worked because the teams knew The company also believes that “Great what they had to do. That set a cultural people can manage themselves”. The bit in people’s heads: You are the boss. Don’t wait to company goes intentionally after young risk takers take the hill. Don’t wait to get managed. If you fail, fine. who are willing to go off the beaten track in search of On to the next idea. There’s faith here in the ability of something new, as well as stars who have the comsmart, well-motivated people to do the right thing.” petence of identifying failures early. Failing fast and early is a Google mantra, and the company is therefore relying on their developers to identifying what doesn’t

AdSense, Gmail and Google News are said to originate from the 20% rule

Kick-off

Read more! T. DeMarco & T. Lister: Peopleware, 1999 D. Vise & M. Malseed: The Google Story, 2006

Source: T. Archibald, How Google grows..and grows..and grows (Fast Company, March 2003)

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Project wall Involving

What trust is NOT

Trust is not giving all project members responsibilities without requirements or regular meetings. Use of 15 minute stand ups is an effective tool for keeping focus and coordination when working separately.

Guided

5 ways to make a project trusting: 1. Let the project group decide on a project vision and name.

Hands-on

2. Give project members responsibility for researching and briefing the rest of the group on issues like market situation, environmental aspects and international standards.

Visible

4. Eliminate the number of links from project group to management decision by letting team members themselves do the briefing.

3. Give all project members a day to investigate an issue of their choice, with the task of communicating their findings through a prototype, a story or a film at the end of the day.

Focused

5. Inform the project group about all financial aspects of the project, and give an open task of reducing costs in their area of choice.

Trusting Evaluation Kick-off

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Project wall Involving Guided Hands-on

Tips and techniques

The standup

Focused

Visible

In order to give the project members as much developing-time as possible while at the same time ensuring coordination between tasks, there should be held 15 minute stand-up meetings when members work separately. The meeting should be held every day by the project wall. This gives the project team a tangible reminder of past decisions and future goals and deliverables. The meeting is usually done (as the name suggests) standing up, but can also take place in an informal sitting group by the project wall - whatever the team prefers.

Trusting

Answers to three questions are to be prepared by all participants: - What did I accomplish yesterday? - What will I do today? - What obstacles are impending my progress?

Kick-off

Evaluation

The storyteller documents all answers, while the project manager assesses the major current project issues originating from the meeting. Some challenges might be solved on the spot, while others might require management consulting or a team workshop.

45

Project wall Why

Success factor

Involving

Physically gathering project members.

Ownership, task-coordination.

Enough time, thorough preparation.

Guiding

Well founded guidelines on relevant project issues.

Avoiding time-consuming guessing.

Thorough guideline preparation, updated and to-the-point language.

Hands-on

Producing models, mock-ups at all project stages.

Failing fast and early, rather than slow and late

Making and sharing the mock-up despite not knowing the solutions to all issues. Not making too fancy prototypes early in the process.

Visible

Visible

Making all important project aspects known to all participants.

Project member understanding of project and decision-making process, identification of source of delays.

A dedicated storyteller for structuring and documenting important information and keeping the project wall alive.

Focused

Milestones, deliverables, goals, vision

Reduces frustration and increases efficiency as all members get common goals to work towards.

A project manager who knows when to instruct and when to trust.

Trusting

Relying on the project members’ technical competence for making sound decisions on how best to reach project goals.

Creates a flexible and efficient process.

Early involvement, frequent standup-meetings.

Guided

What

Hands-on

Involving

Principle summary

Focused Trusting Evaluation Kick-off

46

Kick-off

Evaluation

Trusting

Focused

Visible

Hands-on

Part 2: Evaluation tool for your project

47 Guided

Involving

Project wall

Project wall Involving

A dual evaluation method

Guided

Performing a project evaluation is a good way of detecting any principle weak points (and strong ones!), and thus be able to improve. Some principles are less tangible than others and might therefore be harder to identify in the project. This is why the evaluation tool described in this chapter consists of two parts: a check-list for the tangible elements, like the project wall and use of storyteller, and a questionnaire for the somewhat more intangible issues, like if members feel trusted in the project.

Hands-on Visible

Questionnaires and check-lists are downloadable from Sharepoint, as well as the evaluation spread sheet which combines and calculates the answers into a

Focused Trusting Evaluation Kick-off

48

spiderweb-diagram. The spiderweb diagram can be mounted on the project wall in accordance with the principle of visibility. Arranging a project meeting with everyone involved to go through the evaluation is advisable. The group is then free to come with suggestions of improvement and discuss openly if there are any grave project problems. Such talks might be hard to achieve in other project fora where there is stronger focus on development. Even though such a meeting can seem a bit daunting at first, it is a sometimes necessary for further project progression.

Project wall

Involving

Preparing team leader meeting Kick-off week

Involving

Check list

Questionnaire “I was satisfactory involved in the project from an early start” “I feel a strong sense of ownership to the project”

Guided

Product owner Product management Industrial design

Hands-on

Mechanics User Experience Hardware Software Approvals

Visible

Operations User Non-user

Focused

PM of former/similar project Sales Marketing

Mechanics

“I am full aware of the project guidelines of ecology, design and...” “The guidelines help the process stay focused and effective.”

Trusting

Guidelines Audio Hardware

Evaluation

Software Ind. Design User Experience Ecological

Kick-off

Guided

49

Project wall Involving

Hands-on

Prototypes in all deliverables Clear iterations in all phases

“The project is good at detecting product problems early”

Visible

Storyteller

“I am full aware of all project milestones and time frames”

“The project makes use of prototypes at all stages”

Guided Hands-on

Project wall Project plan

“I have a clear understanding of all decisions made regarding the project”

Milestones Project guidelines

Visible

Delays Project story Summaries

Focused

Focused

Project vision Project goals - Market

“I think there is strong focus in the project”

“I know what the overall goals (market, user, technology) of the project are”

Trusting

- Technology - User

Trusting

Project members trusted with:

Evaluation

- User observation

- Management briefings

- Defining project goals, name and vision

Kick-off

50

“My suggestions and knowledge are respected and implemented in the project”

“I think I have strong influence on the resulting product.”

Project wall Involving

Examples of project evaluations

Below are examples of possible evaluation results of three different projects.

Guided suboptimization

Trusting Visible

Guided

Hands-on

Focused

This project is characterized by strong guiding and focus, but little involvement, visibility, trust and hands-on. The result is probably a project where tasks are not coordinated sufficiently, leading to unfortunate suboptimization. When not involved, members will also most likely feel less ownership, which affects project dedication and participation.

Hands-on

Involving

Guided

Focused

Trusting Visible

This project has a strong presence of involvement, trust and visibility, but lacks focus, guiding and elements of hands-on. The result might be a lot of time-consuming guessing - both about deliverables and time frames as well as product related issues like ecology, style, ergonomics and international standards. This project might also suffer from miscoordination as members are not informed about what to focus on when.

Focused

Hands-on

Visible

Involved guessing

Involving

Balanced creativity Hands-on

This project is characterized by a balance between all principles, creating a strong basis for coordination and ownership within the project team.

Evaluation

Involving

Focused

Trusting

Guided

Trusting

Kick-off

Visible

Guided

51

Project wall

Involving

Guided

Hands-on

Visible

Focused

Trusting

Evaluation

Kick-off

52

Kick-off

Evaluation

Trusting

Focused

Visible

Hands-on

Guided

Involving

Part 3: Kick-off week - a guide

53 Project wall

Project wall Involving

A kick-off week of fun and focus

Guided Hands-on

The perhaps most critical time for implementing good project culture is in the early stages of the concept phase when all project participants are introduced to scope and pre-project research. Ownership, project progress and final product quality are all dependent on how this stage is handled by the project manager. The following section aims to give some help with the facilitation of a kick-off week which main purpose is to establish a solid foundation for further project progression, as well as the first specific product iteration. As seen from the case from Ford on page 13, investing in early involvement gives plenty back in time and quality.

Visible

possible, as long as one understands the need for increased efforts to keep focus and dedication when project members work separately. One week might seem tight for creating a full product concept, but research shows that people work better and faster when put under a challenging time frame. By involving all stakeholders in active participation, one achieves efficient task coordination, fun through challenge and a strong element of ownership and project dedication. Trust in project members and their ability to deliver is decisive for a successful kick-off week.

Focused

The project manager is of course free to adapt the suggestion to his or her current project, like choosing to make use of certain elements and drop others. Spreading the days over a longer time period is also

Trusting Evaluation

Kick-off week

Pre-project

Concept

Feasibility

Development

Kick-off

Kick-off week takes place at the early stages of the concept phase.

54

Day 1

This day is dedicated to securing project team dedication and ownership. The group is informed about all relevant issues, and is involved in creating goals, vision and a name for the project.

Involving

Ownership Project specifications and goals Project name and vision Common understanding of project goals

Day 2

Project manager is responsible for securing fast conclusions from product owner and product management on what to take further from the kick-off week. Regular stand ups and new workshops are arranged accordingly.

Visible Ideas related to technical issues in relation to project goals

Focused

Ideas

Day 4

Solutions

Day 5

Concept

Suggested technical solutions

Trusting

Project management merges solutions into three concepts, of which they recommend one. Presentation to all stakeholders at the end of the day.

Day 3

Common understanding of user needs Ideas for meeting needs

Evaluation

Members work separately with defined technical tasks. Presentation at the end of the day.

User Need

One recommended concept

Continued project dedication Kick-off

Kick-off week

Technical ideas related to project goals are explored. Technical challenges of all teams are identified and given as separate tasks for all members for next day.

Unification

People Guidelines Project time frame Project wall

Guided

Preparation

Project manager invites kick-off participants, prepares briefings, chooses a storyteller and fixes practical issues.

The project group identifies the main needs through observations and interviewing of users, and produces ideas based on these.

Project wall

Goals/deliverables

Hands-on

Description

Follow-up

55

Project wall Involving

Preparation

Guided Hands-on

Deliverables: - People - Guidelines - Project time frame - Project wall Thorough preparation is one of the major success factors for a well executed workshop. The workload on the project manager might seem heavy, but is repaid in better results.

Visible Focused

Pre-decisions Some decisions are to be made before the start of kick-off week and presented on the first day: - Market positioning - Concept phase time frame - Price and volume Other issues, like technological solutions and final launch date should be decided on after involving the project team who is best qualified for assessing these issues.

Trusting

Participants Involving all relevant parties is important in order to coordinate tasks and establish common goals and understanding (see Involving). There are different ways of ensuring the participation of different groups:

Evaluation Kick-off

56

Project wall How to ensure participation

Involving

Participants

Project group Mechanics Industrial design Audio

All technical groups should be secured by consulting the team managers who have control over the team’s resources. Meet with team managers separately or together in a meeting to prepare for full developer coverage throughout the process

Guided

Hardware Approvals Software

Hands-on

User Experience Operations Talk directly to product owner

Product management

Talk directly to PM

Sales personnel

Contact Sales department

A user

Contact User Experience for an eligible user

Developer from former similar project

Identify the project which resembles the current project the most, contact the project manager for names and talk to the individual’s team manager.

An in-house non-developer

Contact reception or training department

A re seller

Contact Sales

Manufacturer

Contact Operations

Focused

Product owner

Visible

Others

Trusting

The project manager should have consulted all team managers before sending invitations, which should take place at least two weeks ahead of kick-off week.

Evaluation

Storyteller The project manager is responsible for finding a storyteller to structure, document and communicate the project story on the project wall.

Kick-off

Briefing points On the first day of kick-off week, there are several issues that the project group has to be briefed about. This is important for ensuring early understanding of the basis for the project, thus securing a strong common basis for further work. Involving the relevant parties in the preparation creates dedication and is in accordance with the principle of Involving.

57

Project wall Involving

Pre-project The pre-project group should brief the new participants about the work which has been done. This might include user perspectives and market situation.

Guided

Project guidelines Ideally, guidelines about design, ecology and technical standards should exist within the organization at the start of the project. If these do not exist, the project manager should involve the designers, the ecology-committee and the relevant technical teams to identify some key issues for each of the subjects. If guidelines do exist, they would still probably need adjustment to fit with the current project. The project manager should involve the appropriate groups to prepare a summary of the most important points to present at the first workshop day. The points should be concisely communicated on posters throughout the project in accordance with the principle of visibility.

Hands-on Visible

Market The market situation might be covered in the pre-project briefing, but if not, it is still important to inform the project about the overall market situation the product is to fit into. The briefing should be made by management, market or sales, and focus on sales numbers of existing products, competitive products and emerging trends.

Focused

User issues User Experience needs time to prepare, arrange and analyze user tests before project start. If this is not secured in a pre-project, the project manager needs to inform the team well ahead of time about the issues he/she wants to focus on in the project. Even though there is great chance of new user issues during the project, it is important to create a basis to work with from the very start. This might include ergonomics and interface needs. The findings should be summarized in some concise points and used on the same level as the defined guidelines.

Trusting

Former project It might be beneficial to involve a member from a former project to inform about the main challenges and learning points. Ask the project member to hold a short briefing at the first day of the week.

Evaluation

Practicalities A number of practicalities have to be prepared beforehand kick-off week, like a detailed itinerary, room reservation, technical setup, flip overs, cameras and writing utensils.

Kick-off

58

Project wall

Briefings Pre-project Market User issues Former project

Hands-on

Participants Storyteller Mechanics Industrial design Audio Hardware Approvals Software User Experience Operations Product owner Product management Sales personnel A user Developer from former similar project An in-house non-developer A re seller Manufacturer

Visible

Guidelines Design Ecology International standards

Focused

Pre-decisions Concept phase time frame Market positioning Price and volume

Guided

Involving

Preparation check-list

Trusting

Practicalities Invitations Itinerary Room reservation Technical setup

Kick-off

Evaluation

Mock-up material Flip overs Cameras Writing utensils

59

Project wall Involving

Day 1: Unification

Guided Hands-on

Deliverables: - Project specification and goals - Ownership - Project name and vision - Common understanding of market, user and technological issues

Visible Focused

The goal of the first day of kick-off week is to establish a common basis for further work by including all project members in previous decisions and research. Knowing the reasons behind the project is decisive for ownership and dedication to one’s tasks. It is important to secure this as soon as possible since involvement will be increasingly costly and time-consuming as the project progresses. The principles of Focus, Guiding and Involving are at the center of this day.

Trusting Evaluation Kick-off

60

Time

What

Who

Project wall

How

Preparation

Follow-up

Involving

ITINERARY DAY 1 Principles

Guided

1. Introduction Welcome

Project manager

09:05-09:15

Presentation

All

Everyone says who they are, what their role is

Name tags

Project manager

Presentation of project wall, what is decided, what needs to be researched further? Presentation of storyteller

Project Wall Storyteller

Power point Flip over

Storyteller notes attendance

Hands-on

09:00-09:05

09:15-10:00

Project plan

Visible

2. Project frame

Market research Former product performance

10:15-10:30

Pre-project experience

Pre-manager

Main learning points from last time

10:30-10:45

Ecology

Ecoresponsible

Presentation guidelines

Guidelines

10:45-12:00

Technical guidelines

All tech teams

Presentation all tech guidelines

Guidelines

Design

Ind.design Audio

User Experience

UX

All groups present their respective guidelines with emphasis on relevant issues for the current project.

Guidelines

Audio Hardware

Hardware

Software

Software

12.00-12:30

Main points mounted on project wall

Trusting

Product management

Evaluation

Market

Kick-off

10:00-10:15

Focused

3. Project Story

LUNCH

61

Project wall Involving

Time

What

Who

How

Preparation

Follow-up

4. Project specification

Guided Hands-on

12:30-13:15

Group session: What should the project goals (tech, user, market) be?

All

13:15-13:45

Presentation of ideas

All groups

13:45-14:00

Voting

Visible

Small groups, one note taker

Rooms, flip overs, pens

All

All ideas on the wall, members vote by putting stickers on their favorite ideas

Stickers

Storyteller

What are the preliminary conclusions regarding project goals? What happens next?

Suggestions are recorded and evaluated by project management. Final goals have to be directly originating from suggestions! Decided goals are presented on day 3.

5. Vision and Name

Focused Trusting Evaluation Kick-off

62

14:00-14:10

Summary and briefing

14:10-14:20

Break

14:20-15:00

Group session: Create a name and vision for the project

Summary

Storyteller makes quick notes of main conclusions regarding user, market and tech for hand-out to all groups.

Goal templates; user, market, tech

All

Based on spec, what would the best name and vision be?

Rooms, flip overs, pens

Summary

Stickers

Name and vision is written on top of project wall.

15:00-15:15

Presentation

All groups

2 minutes each, what and why?

15:15-15:30

Voting

All

All ideas on the wall, members vote by putting stickers on their favorite ideas

15:30-16:00

Name and vision

All

Direct voting: Most votes wins!

16:00

Wrap up

All

Applause

Principles

Project wall Guided

Involving

Day 2: Need

Hands-on

Deliverables: - Common understanding of the user’s needs - Ideas for meeting needs

Visible

Meeting the user is a very efficient way of ensuring a common understanding of the issues at hand. By seeing oneself what the user struggles with, the group will gain a deeper understanding which no power point presentation is able to provide. Important principles of the day are Involving, Trusting and Hands-on.

Kick-off

Evaluation

Trusting

Focused

In order to getting the most out of the day, it is important to try focusing on the actual needs without heading straight for technical solutions. This might be hard for problem-solving engineers, and it might be wise to put a member from User Experience or Industrial Design in charge of the field trips and group work as they have broad experience of user testing and observation. At this stage, the team should be encouraged to open up for ideas which might seem far-fetched at first, but which can be built into actual solutions later.

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Project wall Involving

ITINERARY DAY 2 Time

What

Who

How

Preparation

Follow-up

Guided

1. Field trip 09:00-09:15

Briefing

Project manager

Verbal briefing: Main tasks for the day, tips, time frame, goals

Main group tasks

Hands-on

09:15-12:00

Group field trip to customers

All project members, one designer or UX leads each group.

Project members divided in four groups, each visiting one customer.All groups talk to and observe users at the customer. (See guide on p.62)

Make customer appointments Involve UX, ID Transportation Cameras, note pads, interviewing guide

Visible

12:00-12:30

LUNCH

Rooms, pens, mock-up materials

See part 2.

2. Group work

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12:30-14:30

Group work

Groups

All groups work with defined tasks: - Define three main user needs - Create a product meeting these needs using mock-up techniques

14:30-15:30

Briefing

Groups

All groups present their findings and proposed product.

15:30

Finish

All

Summary, applause

Storyteller and product manager documents all activities, ideas and solutions through photos and notes. Main conclusions are posted on project wall. New insights can surface which interferes with the previous day’s conclusions. That is ok - inform the group if changes are made!

Principles

Project wall Involving

A guide for the field trip Preparation - Involve User Experience, Industrial Design and Sales in finding and preparing a trip to 3-4 customers.

Guided

- Appoint people from User Experience and Industrial Design to work as managers for each group - Provide a list of wanted deliverables for the trip, leave the rest to the group managers.

Hands-on

Deliverables: - User needs independent of existing products - User challenges with existing products Documentation: Photos, notes, video

Visible

The managers should be able to figure out how to meet these demands themselves, but might be shown a list of examples they can work from: - One observation of use of a company product

- What sort of communication needs do they have?



- What would be the perfect product?



- Any major challenges with existing products?

Focused

- Two single interviews with users:

Trusting

- One group meeting with several users It is important to note that the trip is not meant to work as strict user testing, but as a way to get an

Evaluation

impression of some of the overall user needs and challenges. Detailed issues with ergonomics and

Kick-off

interface are better left to the User Experience team.

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Project wall Involving

Day 3: Ideas

Guided

Deliverables:

- Technical ideas in relation to project goals

Hands-on

After focusing solely on the specifications and needs, it is finally time to get down to the technicalities. Stay focused by reminding everyone of the main goals of the project and building on the findings from the previous day.

Visible

The project manager needs to define 4-8 technical issues the team is to focus on in the cross-functional sessions. These issues are related to the product at hand (see page 70 for examples), and are to be looked at in relation to earlier defined goals, like the user’s perspective, market goals, price, ecology or looks. If there have emerged new radical ideas during the days, these should also be integrated into this work. The team is divided in four groups with one issue to focus on each. For the ecology group, a technical issue of cabling might result in ideas of limiting the amount of materials used. The guidelines are not necessarily needed at this stage, but should be reminded of when voting later on.

Focused Trusting

At the end of the group session, there will hopefully be a large number of new ideas. In accordance with Trust, the team should now vote on their favorite ideas - a quick way of structuring and evaluating the results. The ideas will create a range of different issues to investigate further for each of the technical groups represented. The project manager together with the storyteller choose the technical issues for each member to focus on. The developers should however to be free to suggest new solutions in accordance with the defined specifications. Where possible, solutions should be showed by tangible models, in accordance with the principle of Hands-on.

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Project wall

What

Who

How

Preparation

Follow-up

Principles Guided

Time

Involving

ITINERARY DAY 3

09:00-09:15

Presentation of main project goals based on last days work

Project manager

Photos, drawings

Decision on user, market and tech goals.

Summary for project wall

Cross-functional group session

All

4 groups, each focusing on user, market, price or ecology (or other important goals) in relation to defined specific technical task. One notetaker

Defining 4-8 specific technical tasks to focus on. Rooms, flip overs, pens, mock-up materials

All ideas recorded and analyzed in relation to each technical group.

Hands-on

1. Summary

Presentation

All groups

Note taker presents ideas

Voting

All

All ideas on the wall, members vote by putting stickers on their favorite ideas

Stickers

12:00-12:30

LUNCH

Project manager and storyteller defines technical issues for each team to focus on for the next two days.

Template (see page 68)

See ‘LUNCH’

Focused

11:15-11:45 11:45-12:00

Trusting

09:10-11:00

Visible

2. Problem solving

Briefing

Project manager

Verbal: What are the main issues for each technical group?

13:00-15:00

Separate work

All

All members work separately on ideas based on the work

15:00-16:00

Presentation

All

All present their work so far

Kick-off

12:30-13:00

Evaluation

3. Technical

Work is recorded, structured and documented on project wall.

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Project wall

Checklist group session

Involving

Project team is divided in four groups, each to focus on either user, market, price or ecology issues in relation to a set of defined technical tasks. The storyteller is to record all suggestions in a scheme similar to the one presented here. Useability group

Guided

Technical issue 1

Hands-on

Technical issue 2

Technical issue 3 Visible Focused

Technical issue 4

Technical issue 5 Trusting Evaluation

Technical issue 6

Technical issue 7 Kick-off

Technical issue 8

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Market group

Price group

Ecology group

Project wall

Tasks technical groups

Task 2

Task 3 Guided

Mechanics

Task 1

Involving

After the smaller group session, project manager and storyteller need to sit down and figure out which solutions should be explored further by the represented technical teams. Each representative might be given up to three issues to research and produce solutions for within the next two days. All solutions should be encouraged to be communicated through mock-ups and/or physical prototypes (see page 25 for examples).

Hands-on

Industrial design

Visible

Audio

Focused

Hardware

Trusting

Operations

Evaluation

Software

Kick-off

User Experience

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Project wall Involving

Day 4: Solutions

Guided

Deliverables: - Suggested technical solutions from all teams

Hands-on Visible

All members get half the day to keep exploring their task from the previous day, before presenting their recommendations after lunch. The goal of the day is to produce several technical solutions for different product issues, giving the project manager a range of ideas to merge into three suggested concepts.

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Time

What

Who

Project wall

How

Preparation

Follow-up

Involving

ITINERARY DAY 4 Principles

Stand up

Project groups

15 minutes meeting: - What has been done? - What’s today’s plan? - Main challenges

All participants

As people see best

Summary of last days work

All issues are recorded, structured and documented on the project wall by storyteller.

Hands-on

09:00-09:15

Guided

1. Stand up

2. Separate work All technical groups work separately

Project manager walks by all teams for coordination and identification of potential problems.

Visible

09:15-13:15

All representatives present their solutions, 15 minutes each, some room for comments and deliberation.

Mock-ups, drawings

All solutions are recorded, structured and documented by storyteller.

15:30-16:00

Voting

All

Members vote on their favorite solutions, to be used as help for project management’s further work.

Stickers

Project management evaluates all solutions, makes selection for final presentation.

Trusting

All technical representatives

Evaluation

Presentation

Kick-off

13:30-15:30

Focused

3. Presentation of solutions

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Project wall Involving

Day 5: Concept

Guided

Deliverables:

- Three suggested concepts, one recommendation

Hands-on Visible

In order to get quick feedback of the work done, there should be made a decision at the end of the week concerning what to move forward with. There should be as few links from developers to management decision so that no information gets lost along the way. The whole group should thus be present at the concept presentation, securing ownership, transparency and a common basis for understanding of the decision-making process. Having involved a representative from management throughout the week is extremely important for establishing trust with the final decision-makers.

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Project wall

Time

What

Who

How

Preparation

Follow-up

All

15 minutes meeting, project manager informs about plan for the day. New ideas are welcome.

Summary last days work

Meeting summary

Project manager, storyteller

Taking all solutions, merging into a limited number of complete concepts, evaluating against defined project goals. Drop-ins by project members are welcome!

Room reservation

Documenting on project wall.

Project manager and storyteller to project team, product owner and product management.

- Project story so far - Project goals - Project vision - Last days actions - Main concepts - Evaluation of main concepts - Recommendation of one concept

Room reservation, technical setup

Product owner should

Involving

ITINERARY DAY 5 Principles

Stand up

Hands-on

09:00-09:15

Guided

1. Stand up

09:15-12:30

Structuring of last days work

Visible

2. Preparation

Trusting

Comments and suggestions are welcome.

Evaluation

Presentation

Kick-off

12:30-13:30

Focused

3. Presentation

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Project wall Involving

Follow-up

Guided

Deliverables: - Continued project dedication

Hands-on

Follow-up is important for securing lasting dedication to the project. If the project members don’t hear anything after kick-off week, it might be difficult to keep consistent focus and ownership within the group.

Visible

A follow-up meeting should be held about a week after the workshop. This should contain a summary of the conclusions from kick-off week, as well as briefings from everyone on the last week’s actions. People might have come up with new ideas as a result of the individual working, and these should be welcomed at this stage when remodeling still is not too costly.

Focused

Probably the most important principle after the kick-off week is the one of visibility. When people work separately, the storyteller has to make sure that all work and decisions are documented on the project wall, and the project manager has to arrange short and frequent stand-ups to inform all involved parties about developments. Shorter workshops should also be arranged for in order to deal with emerging issues during the process. The goal is to quickly identify problems and secure lasting ownership and dedication.

Trusting Evaluation Kick-off

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Evaluation

Trusting

Focused

Visible

Hands-on

Guided

Involving

Project wall

Project wall

Involving

Guided

Hands-on

Visible

Focused

Trusting

Evaluation

Kick-off

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