Product Development

Product Development

by David V. Tennant
Released April 2022
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9781119780137

Read it now on the O’Reilly learning platform with a 10-day free trial.

O’Reilly members get unlimited access to books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial

Book description

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

An insightful development roadmap to help engineers and businesspeople successfully bring a product to market

In Product Development: An Engineer’s Guide to Business Considerations, Real-World Product Testing, and Launch, accomplished project manager, engineer, and business strategist David V. Tennant delivers a comprehensive walkthrough of the full scope of product development activities, from initial business considerations to real-world product testing and launch. The book covers key product development considerations like determining the target market, working with a product development team, management challenges, funding, user identification, ergonomics, product design, testing, and launch.

The distinguished author presents the material in the form of practical, hands-on tutorials with case studies featuring large corporations and small- and mid-size firms. He also includes team exercises and question-and-answer features to help early-career and aspiring engineers acquire the interdisciplinary and inter-department coordination skills they’ll require to successfully bring a new product to market.

Readers will learn about the critical roles played by the engineering, marketing, and finance departments, as well as each stage of the product development process. The book also includes:

  • Thorough introductions to product development and the role of the marketing group in product development, including corporate strategy, product and business plans, and marketing leadership
  • Comprehensive explorations of the role of the engineering group in product development, including functional areas led by engineers and engineering leadership
  • Practical discussions of the core team and teamwork in product development, including executives’ roles, the role of the accounting department, and the identification of key stakeholders
  • In-depth examinations of how to move forward with product development after project approval

Perfect for early- and mid-career engineers working in product-oriented companies, as well as marketers and other business professionals seeking to understand engineering best practices, Product Development is the ideal reference for use in upper-level undergraduate Product Development courses.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title page
  3. Copyright
  4. Acknowledgments
  5. About the Author
  6. 1 Introduction to Product Development
    1. Project Management and Product Development
    2. What Is Product Development?
    3. How This Book Is Organized
  7. 2 The Role of Marketing in Product Development
    1. Corporate Strategy – Strategic Planning
    2. Marketing, Sales, and the Four Ps
    3. The 1st P – Product
    4. Example of Product Displacement
    5. The 2nd P – Promotion
    6. The 3rd P – Pricing
    7. The 4th P – Placement
    8. The Business Case
    9. The Roles of Marketing and Engineering in Product Development
    10. Marketing Services
    11. New Product Development and Market Economics: The Future of Electric Trucks vs Costs and Public Policy
  8. 3 The Role of the Engineering Group in Product Development
    1. Driving Products – the Engineering Perspective
    2. Engineering Disciplines
    3. The Engineering Process
    4. Ergonomics (Human Factors Engineering)
    5. Additional Design Considerations – Product Liability
    6. Government Oversight – Consumer Protection in the United States
    7. Discussion Case 3.1 – Lawsuit over Hot Coffee
    8. Design Challenges – Product Misuse
    9. Problems with Product Development
  9. 4 The Core Team and Teamwork in Product Development
    1. The Executive’s Role in Product Development
    2. Working Within the Strategic Plan
    3. Project Management Processes
    4. Who Should Be Involved in Product Development?
    5. Constraint on Product Development: A Note about Sarbanes-Oxley and Publicly Held Companies
    6. Essentials of Teamwork and Communications across Functional Lines
    7. Project/Product Communication
      1. Budgets, Schedules, and Miscellaneous Small Tasks
      2. Leadership in Product Development
    8. How Do Leaders Go Wrong?
    9. The Roles of Accounting and Finance
    10. Decision Points and Net Present Value (NPV)
    11. The Bigger Picture
    12. Driving Product Development
      1. Working in Silos and with Stakeholders
      2. Identifying Stakeholders
  10. 5 Getting Started – Project Approved: Product/Project Management and Engineering
    1. Taking the Business Case from Concept to Reality
    2. Basic Research
    3. Applied Research
    4. Project Management in Product Development
    5. Why Do Projects Fail?
    6. Traditional and Agile Project Management
    7. Sample Project Plan – Detailed Table of Contents
    8. A True Case Study - Company Dysfunction and a Lack of Project Management
    9. Developing and Controlling Scope – Using a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
    10. Developing a Budget and Cash Flows
    11. Agile PM
    12. The Vision Statement
    13. Agile Hybrid in Action – Marketing Natural Gas in the Southeastern United States: Gas South, A True Story
    14. Discussion Case 5.1 – A True Story: Product Development Without Project Management
  11. 6 Product Development for Small Firms and Entrepreneurs
    1. Funding for Your Start-Up: A Necessary Ingredient
    2. Loans from the Bank and Small Business Administration (SBA)
    3. Funding from Venture Capitalists
    4. Funding by Issuing Shares of Stock
    5. Funding with Angel Investors
    6. Other Sources of Business and Financial Assistance
    7. Summary on Product Development and Sources of Funding
    8. Small Firm Challenges
    9. Lack of Structured Planning
    10. Marketing Message Not Strong or Clear
    11. Legal and Regulatory Obstacles
    12. Use of a Product Roadmap
    13. Innovation
    14. When (Or If) to Patent
  12. 7 Manufacturing the New Product
    1. The State of Manufacturing
    2. New Manufacturing Advances
  13. 8 Engineering Product Design and Testing
    1. Managing the Approved Scope and Budget – Why Is This Important?
    2. The Project Lifecycle
    3. A True Story: Ignoring the Warning Signs
    4. Preventing Failure and Surprises: Performing a Risk Review
    5. Two Types of Risk Review: Qualitative and Quantitative
    6. Design and Status Reviews
    7. Modeling – Speeding Product Development
    8. Integrating Supply Chain and Manufacturing
    9. The Role of Supply Chain in Product Development
    10. Proposals, Pricing, Statements of Work (SOWs)
    11. New Technologies – Identification and Adaptation
    12. Alignment with Business Strategy
    13. Using SWOT
    14. Gates and Stakeholders
  14. 9 Successful Product Launch and Post Review
    1. Pricing
    2. Integrated Marketing
    3. Product Development – Post Review
  15. 10 Summary – Connecting the Dots
    1. A Logical Process Flow
  16. Index
  17. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: Product Development
  • Author(s): David V. Tennant
  • Release date: April 2022
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781119780137