New Product Development

4. Your Team

Hand pick your team to suit the project.

4.1 Every new product needs a product champion to lead the team.

This individual should regard the product as his or her 'baby'.

• Without such a champion, the project will lack the passion and perseverance needed to overcome the inevitable setbacks.
• Give the team leader the authority to run the project (within an agreed budget and timetable), without continual interference.

4.2 Create a team with all the skills needed to make the project a success (see 1.1).

• Involving a complete team from the start allows people to work in parallel, reducing the overall development lead time.Without this approach, problems can remain hidden until late in the day.
• Involve key customers, if appropriate.
• Involve any suppliers that will provide key components of the product.

4.3 Make sure all the team members are agreed about the main objectives, which are based on the basic spec (see 3.1).

4.4 Be prepared for negativity and keep the team motivated.

• If anyone is unco-operative or has a 'can't do' attitude, this will have a corrosive influence on the rest of the team. Avoid including such a person in the first place.
• Most projects go through a honeymoon period, while you are generating ideas. Putting these ideas into practice can be a long and tiring process.
• Make it clear that there will be failures along the way, so individuals are neither afraid of making mistakes, nor depressed by setbacks when they occur. If making the new product was easy, someone would have done it already.