Accendo Reliability

Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site

  • Home
  • About
    • Contributors
  • Reliability.fm
    • Speaking Of Reliability
    • Rooted in Reliability: The Plant Performance Podcast
    • Quality during Design
    • Way of the Quality Warrior
    • Critical Talks
    • Dare to Know
    • Maintenance Disrupted
    • Metal Conversations
    • The Leadership Connection
    • Practical Reliability Podcast
    • Reliability Matters
    • Reliability it Matters
    • Maintenance Mavericks Podcast
    • Women in Maintenance
    • Accendo Reliability Webinar Series
  • Articles
    • CRE Preparation Notes
    • on Leadership & Career
      • Advanced Engineering Culture
      • Engineering Leadership
      • Managing in the 2000s
      • Product Development and Process Improvement
    • on Maintenance Reliability
      • Aasan Asset Management
      • AI & Predictive Maintenance
      • Asset Management in the Mining Industry
      • CMMS and Reliability
      • Conscious Asset
      • EAM & CMMS
      • Everyday RCM
      • History of Maintenance Management
      • Life Cycle Asset Management
      • Maintenance and Reliability
      • Maintenance Management
      • Plant Maintenance
      • Process Plant Reliability Engineering
      • ReliabilityXperience
      • RCM Blitz®
      • Rob’s Reliability Project
      • The Intelligent Transformer Blog
      • The People Side of Maintenance
      • The Reliability Mindset
    • on Product Reliability
      • Accelerated Reliability
      • Achieving the Benefits of Reliability
      • Apex Ridge
      • Metals Engineering and Product Reliability
      • Musings on Reliability and Maintenance Topics
      • Product Validation
      • Reliability Engineering Insights
      • Reliability in Emerging Technology
    • on Risk & Safety
      • CERM® Risk Insights
      • Equipment Risk and Reliability in Downhole Applications
      • Operational Risk Process Safety
    • on Systems Thinking
      • Communicating with FINESSE
      • The RCA
    • on Tools & Techniques
      • Big Data & Analytics
      • Experimental Design for NPD
      • Innovative Thinking in Reliability and Durability
      • Inside and Beyond HALT
      • Inside FMEA
      • Integral Concepts
      • Learning from Failures
      • Progress in Field Reliability?
      • R for Engineering
      • Reliability Engineering Using Python
      • Reliability Reflections
      • Testing 1 2 3
      • The Manufacturing Academy
  • eBooks
  • Resources
    • Accendo Authors
    • FMEA Resources
    • Feed Forward Publications
    • Openings
    • Books
    • Webinars
    • Journals
    • Higher Education
    • Podcasts
  • Courses
    • 14 Ways to Acquire Reliability Engineering Knowledge
    • Reliability Analysis Methods online course
    • Measurement System Assessment
    • SPC-Process Capability Course
    • Design of Experiments
    • Foundations of RCM online course
    • Quality during Design Journey
    • Reliability Engineering Statistics
    • Quality Engineering Statistics
    • An Introduction to Reliability Engineering
    • Reliability Engineering for Heavy Industry
    • An Introduction to Quality Engineering
    • Process Capability Analysis course
    • Root Cause Analysis and the 8D Corrective Action Process course
    • Return on Investment online course
    • CRE Preparation Online Course
    • Quondam Courses
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Live Events
  • Calendar
    • Call for Papers Listing
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Webinar Calendar
  • Login
    • Member Home

by Robert Allen Leave a Comment

Critical Thinking for Product Development

Critical Thinking for Product Development

Previous articles have covered product development tools and methodologies such as lean product development, agile, design for six sigma, product life cycle (PLC) and project management processes.

In this article, lets consider “the product” being developed any hardware product, software, IT system, service or new business process.  We’ll use the acronym “PSSBP” (Product, Service, Software, Business Process) as an all-encompassing placeholder and to illustrate critical thinking on the topic as follows:

  • Do we know what customers value for our PSSBP?
  • Have we collected voice-of-customer and/or performed a market analysis?
  • Have we translated customer needs into valid requirements?  Do the requirements include all inputs from the customer, environmental, regulatory and intended-use considerations?
  • Have we identified the most important characteristics of the PSSBP?  Do we understand how those characteristics might vary and result in a dissatisfied customer?
  • Have we modeled the financial benefits of selling or implementing the new PSSBP?  Are we updating and monitoring the estimated financial benefit as the PSSBP is developed?
  • Are we proceeding with a robust PSSBP design concept?  If we started with an idea or design concept, have we gone upstream to the customer to validate it?
  • Can we get a prototype, pilot or model of the PSSBP in front of the customer “sooner rather than later” to learn from their feedback?
  • Can we model PSSBP performance?  Can we use the model clarify requirements, and to maximize value of the PSSBP and minimize cost?
  • Do we know what our PSSBP cost and quality drivers are, and are we proactively working to address them?
  • Are we testing the PSSBP to validate the functional performance model accuracy, and/or to ensure the PSSBP meets the originally developed valid requirements?
  • Can we use any iterative design-evaluate-redesign (agile) processes or do we use a waterfall project management process?
  • Are we minimizing risks to the customer on the PSSBP?  Are we managing or mitigating project risks?
  • Do we have the right mix of leadership, governance and management to manage the project?
  • Have we optimized our portfolio of projects and is this one of the most valuable projects to execute?
  • Do our project participants generally “speak the same language” regarding the PSSBP development process including regulatory considerations?
  • What is our project governance process? Would we benefit from project phase-gate reviews?
  • Is our project monitoring effective?  Are we ensuring good quality of actual project deliverables?
  • Are we managing the project using the levers of cost, time and scope?
  • Do we have a process for adding or redeploying resources for the project?

It can be seen that these over-arching questions are universally applicable and reduces risk to the customer, reduces risk to the business entity and increases the likelihood of success.  One (or all) of the frameworks, tools and methodologies mentioned above can be key enablers accordingly.

 

 

Filed Under: Articles, on Leadership & Career, Product Development and Process Improvement Tagged With: agile product development, Critical to Quality, customer value, Design for Six Sigma, DFSS, DFx, New Product Development, PLC process, product development, product life cycle, Project Management, six sigma

About Robert Allen

Robert Allen has over 25 years of professional experience in the areas of product development, process improvement and project management. Rob was a key contributor to numerous deployments of lean sigma and project management organizations, most notably with Honeywell and TE Connectivity. Included in Rob’s experience are multiple certifications and over 25 years of practice in the development, teaching, execution, and leadership of product lifecycle, lean product development, DFSS, lean six sigma, project management, systems engineering and supply chain.

« Making Asset Management Work
Taking Your Business to Next Level – Radio Interview »

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Articles by Rob Allen
in the Product Development and Process Improvement series

Join Accendo

Receive information and updates about articles and many other resources offered by Accendo Reliability by becoming a member.

It’s free and only takes a minute.

Join Today

Join PD&PI

Your email is safe and the opt-in here provides your permission to send messages concerning the PD&PI article list plus special announcements. Privacy Policy

Recent Posts

  • test
  • test
  • test
  • Your Most Important Business Equation
  • Your Suppliers Can Be a Risk to Your Project

© 2025 FMS Reliability · Privacy Policy · Terms of Service · Cookies Policy