October 2016
Technical Note
HBS Case Collection

Product Development Fundamentals

By: Marco Iansiti, Michael Toffel, Kerry Herman and Julia Kelley

Format:Print
| Language:English
| Pages:10

Abstract

This note introduces key managerial issues in new product development. It describes the product development funnel and alternative approaches to structuring product development teams including functional, lightweight, heavyweight, and autonomous/dedicated teams, which vary in their capacity to manage integration. More formal product development approaches including the stage-gate process and critical-path method are described, as are agile methods and principles—and related tools such as scrum, extreme programming, feature-driven development. Product development metrics including lead time, capacity, and productivity are defined and discussed.

Keywords

Product Development; Groups and Teams; Operations; Management

Citation

Iansiti, Marco, Michael Toffel, Kerry Herman, and Julia Kelley. "Product Development Fundamentals." Harvard Business School Technical Note 617-024, October 2016.