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Context for FTTM

Fast-Time-to-Market (or FTTM) is a set of best practices that resulted from an ongoing study into the factors that drove speed in development projects. I’d like to briefly speak about a context for these practices.

fastTeams Best Practices Study (1)

The following articles are a re-publishing of best practices we found in our initial research (Study 1). We called this research project Fast-Time-To-Market (FTTM) or "fastTeams." It is interesting that these are all still very valid today as they were when we first observed them in the various Silicon Valley technology companies that participated.

Download summary of best practice study 1

Download best practice study 1

Over the years we have refined them and spent a good deal of time learning how to assess organizational readiness for change and how to adapt the practices to fit. It tuns out that this is the real learning and the practices are just the tip of the iceberg.

Best practices include:

Right Market/Customer
1.1 Use market requirements to develop the product as a business
1.2 Build the business out of market segments you know you can compete in
1.3 Determine how customer requirements vary by segment to create the business plan
1.4 Co-develop with customers

Right Product
2.1 Confirm product superiority with voice-of-the-customer (VOC) to stabilize specifications earlier and adjust them faster
2.2 Obtain customer involvement over the entire time-to-market cycle
2.3 Quickly find out the requirements necessary to make the product superior in satisfying the customer's business solution
2.4 Quickly convert high priority customer requirements into product specifications
2.5 Use short form specifications to start design concurrently with refinement of customer needs
2.6 Use the flexible containment strategy to delimit and converge specifications
2.7 Cannibalize and expand your own product lines with rapid incrementalism

Right Time
3.1 Implement fast starts and rapid product positioning
3.2 Make schedule king
3.3 Create fast schedules and rigorous tracking systems
3.4 Create a fast organization structure: Fast provisioning with minimum interrupts
3.5 Install a rapid decision-making forum
3.6 Know the cost of delay and use it as the primary driver for speed

The study is also available through iTunes as a free download. View a screencast of fastTeams below.

1.0 Right Market, Right Customer

Highly successful companies base their business plans on the market. They study market segments and carefully choose which ones to compete in, looking for the most suitable dominant Tier 1 customer in a particular segment—the Right Customer. The Right Customer’s product requirements are the ones to zero in on. If the dominant customer buys the product/solution, the Tier II customers are more likely to jump on the bandwagon and buy it too. Derive product requirements from a Tier II customer, and the product will likely appeal only to the Tier II customer, and end up capturing a small share of the market—if any.

We have developed methodologies that help companies focus on the Right Customer :

• Engage with customers directly to define and develop the product

• Analyze market segments in-depth to position products precisely

• Put the emphasis on finding and meeting customer requirements, rather than letting the product’s potential capabilities drive the process

1.1    Use market requirements to develop the product as a business
1.2    Build the business out of market segments you know you can compete in
1.3    Determine how customer requirements vary by segment to create the business plan
1.4    Co-develop with customers

1.1 Use market requirements to develop the product as a business

Summary
Best product teams and all functions are market - and customer - driven -- and they behave that way.  They focus on finding and meeting customer requirements.  Customer satisfaction is a major corporate goal and all realize this is critical to business success.

Normally, the product teams/organizations themselves are product-driven.  They look at the customer and the market from the "inside out."  The focus is primarily on product success with lesser attention given to business factors required to succeed in the marketplace.

1.2 Build the business out of market segments you know you can compete in

Summary
Best product teams/organizations participate and work in a business environment that systematically segments the market and looks for growth segments where distinct opportunities exist with a defined group of customers.

Normally, product plans are based on replacing the current product's volume or targeted share of some easily addressable market.  Plans are driven by today's large accounts.

1.3 Determine how customer requirements vary by segment to create the business plan

Summary
Best product teams/organizations identify customers and determine what they want by segment. They make a point of tightly coupling product definition (which evolves from customer requirements) with the positioning of the product in a chosen market segment. The business plan is a "roll-up" of this.

Normally, generic functional plans covering all market segments are compiled as the business plan (an "inside out" approach). Minor analysis of the segments is performed.

1.4 Co-develop with customers

Summary
Best product teams organizations engage with customers directly to define and then to develop the product. They integrate development organizations so that engineer-to-engineer communication can occur. They use this close-in contact to accelerate decision-making and improve overall system integration.

Normally, product teams determine product requirements from generic market requirements, standards information, competitive data, and/or by increasing technology by a factor of (X) over the previous generation. Customers are not a part of the development process.

3.1 Implement fast decision-making procedures that authorize fast starts and provide fast guidance

Summary
Best product teams/organizations promote and work in an environment where decisions are made quickly.  They have an overall understanding of the business direction and technology policy.  Typically fast decision-making procedures or forums are available that will provide fast guidance when issues surface that may impact the team's schedule.  The concept of "defaulting to action" is the norm.

Normally, critical decisions affecting the product team's schedule need approval by upper management.  Teams lack an overall understanding of the business direction and technology policy.  They don't proactively seek a "default to action" operating mode and assume it would be risky.

2.0 Right Product

Simply stated, the Right Product is the one that precisely meets the Right Customer’s product requirements. But determining those requirements and translating them into product specifications is a complex process, and businesses don’t always put in enough effort. The problem: it’s possible to wind up spending money and time developing a product that has a fabulous array of features—which the customer doesn’t turn out to need. Designing unnecessary features can also lengthen the development cycle, causing the product to miss its window of opportunity.

We have developed a process for taking the guesswork out of determining the Right Customer’s real product requirements:

• Identify the right people in the customer organization to ask

• Develop questions that get to the heart of what they need

• Find out what the customer’s own customers actually want

• Obtain the customer’s involvement throughout the entire development cycle, to keep up with their changing requirements

• Quickly translate the customer’s priority requirements into product specifications

• Convince engineers to buy in to those product specifications

2.1    Confirm product superiority with voice-of-the-customer (VOC) to stabilize specifications earlier and adjust them faster
2.2    Obtain customer involvement over the entire time-to-market cycle
2.3    Quickly find out the requirements necessary to make the product superior in satisfying the customer's business solution
2.4    Quickly convert high priority customer requirements into product specifications
2.5    Use short form specifications to start design concurrently with refinement of customer needs
2.6    Use the flexible containment strategy to delimit and converge specifications
2.7    Cannibalize and expand your own product lines with rapid incrementalism

2.1 Confirm product superiority with voice-of-the-customer (VOC) to stabilize specifications earlier and adjust them faster

Summary
Best product teams/organizations target for a superior product and continually rely on the customer as the source for determining superior value at the time of introduction. This enables the team to stabilize specifications and adjust them "on time."

Normally, marketing or sales functions establish specifications based on their knowledge of the customer. Or engineering sets specifications based on an improvement factor over prior products. Or a consensus procedure among internal factions is used. Customer input is seen as causing delays, complications and rework.