Creating New Foods. The Product Developer's Guide - The organisation of the Product Development project

CREATING NEW FOODS
THE PRODUCT DEVELOPER'S GUIDE

CHAPTER 2
The organisation of the Product Development project

2.1 INTRODUCTION

The Product Development Process is the basis from which the project is planned and organised systematically.

From the business strategy, the company develops the product strategy and hence the product development strategy. This is the basis for the planning of the individual product development projects. At the beginning of each project, the aim of the project is set and confirmed by management so that it fits with the company's business and marketing strategies. It is the integration of the business strategy and the individual project which often gives problems in organising and controlling the project.

The top management give a clear mission to the project and also set the criteria they will apply as measures in the evaluation of the outcomes at the various stages. They also give a clear description of the culture/philosophy of the company, including the risk climate they will tolerate and the company positioning. They define the company 'fit' expected for the product, production, marketing, finance. There has to be clear indication of resources, including the capital, available for the development and for the commercialisation.

The management needs to outline for the project team:

      1. business strategy relating to the project;
      2. product strategy relating to the project;
      3. product development strategy relating to the project;
      4. information required for the decision-making at the end of each stage;
      5. company resources and constraints on the project.

The product development project coordinates the decisions, outcomes, activities and techniques from the first stage, product strategy development, to the end of the third stage, product commercialisation. Essentially there is a group of people, a team, which picks up the outline of the project from the top management group and eventually hands it on to the operating departments of the company. This interrelationship of the team with management and operating departments varies from company to company, and even project to project.

Marketing can tell research to develop a specific product in the laboratory, and then the remainder of the development is handed onto marketing and production. At the other end of the organisational spectrum, a multidiscipline project team is organised which carries the project to the final commercialisation or even through the launch to the post-launch. Companies have many variations between these two extremes. There needs to be coordination between individual people in different parts of the company and teams are the best option in the larger companies. The team can be fixed from the beginning of the project or it can be a fluid organisation with people changing over time, but there needs to be a continuous knowledge build up.

The project team will develop the aims, objectives and the constraints for the project.

The project aim is the start of every project and sets the direction of a project - a clear definition lessens confusions and difficulties during the project. The outcomes desired by management are developed into project objectives for various parts of the project. If management also want to set limits on the project, these are identified at the beginning of the project as project constraints.

The aim, objectives and constraints are all confirmed by management before the project starts. It is important to ensure the connections of the product development project to both the 'blue-skies' research and also the inventions which come from the researchers' interpretations of the advances of science. This comes through the business strategy to the product strategy and the product development strategy and hence to the individual product development project.