Article

Done well, product development and management have proven to be competencies that truly correlate with growth and profitability. It is clear that "best-in-class" firms are able to deliver lasting competitive advantage, high rates of organic growth and increased profitability through a continuous stream of successful new products and services.

What we know

The challenge in developing and managing a portfolio of successful products and services is that product lifecycles are complex, involve many interdependent activities that must evolve in parallel, and rely on collaboration across departments with people who have a varied mix of skills and agendas. Generating new ideas, choosing the right ideas to commercialize, gathering requirements, developing and launching solutions, and gracefully decommissioning obsolete or non-performing products is a continuous process that is often poorly understood and rarely done well.

At MIDIOR, we recognize that product development and management roles cross technical and business lines and may manifest themselves differently in varied organizations and industries. However, the discipline of best practice is always the same and the opportunities to improve rates of return and fuel growth by honing this discipline are tremendous.

What we do

At MIDIOR, we work intensively with product development and management executives and teams. We identify the roles, how these roles and skill sets fit within the organization and what process changes are needed to support a discipline that assures repeatable success in delivering new products and services. We help our clients build product organizations that are best-in-class for their industries and we accelerate key initiatives by supplementing teams, supplying expert knowledge, adding skilled resources or taking on tasks.

MIDIOR services are classified into planning, implementation and skills development categories and are customized to the needs of each client:

Planning Services

• PD&M Organization Models
• Product Roadmaps, Strategies & Plans
• Portfolio Management & Planning
• Product Architecture
• New Product Development
• Organization Tuning
• Requirements Planning
• Product Performance & Benchmarking

 Implementation Services

• User Requirements Analysis & Documentation
• Customer Interviews & "Day in a Life" Studies
• Business & Competitive Analysis
• Vendor/Product/Package Selection
• Product P&L/Financial Modeling
• Product Management Resources

Skills Development Services

• Product Management Training
• Skills for Innovators™ Workshop
• Product Management Tools & Templates
• One-on-One Mentoring

* PDMA Foundation Report: Trends and Drivers of Success in NPD Practices, 2004/5