6.1.2 Abilities

     Systematic selection of best projects, using information sharing and
        group decision making, creating idea generation and evaluation with
        all people involved in product development, setting decision
        processes based on the product development goals.

     Careful analysis of the customer's level of sophistication and the
        product designer's level of technical sophistication, creating
        collaborative roles between product design and consumer/market
        research, educating product designers on consumer needs and
        wants, educating marketing on technical possibilities and problems.

     Finding and coordinating the resources and knowledge for
        product development, upgrading knowledge to make use of
        new technology, nurturing methods for new technologies, selection
        of technology with fit to present or planned future company
        technology, predicting costs of adoption of new technology in finances
        and company organisation.

     Elimination of disharmony between R&D and marketing groups,
        making open communication an explicit responsibility of every
        employee, using joint R&D/marketing task forces.

     Reducing complexity and problems, breaking large projects
        into manageable stages, identifying and eliminating mild problems
        before they become major.

Management at all levels needs to have the abilities to recognise the path of the project and to coordinate the knowledge, resources and people to follow the path efficiently and effectively to product success.

There is a great deal spoken about multidisciplinary, cross-functional, inter-functional, intra-functional, integrated product development, but basically product development needs to be recognised as a many-faceted process which can only be achieved by collaboration between people with different knowledge and skills. It cannot be enclosed in specialist or functional boxes such as marketing or production (Harris and McKay, 1996). Management needs to understand the meaning of company collaboration and to have the ability to put into action a multifaceted product development project based on collaboration.