New Product Development – Managing the Process

Presented by Rob Verkerk and Saskia van der Geest. This can be offered as an In-house Short Course for your organisation. For further information please contact us on 0800 800 875 or shortcourses@auckland.ac.nz

top Overview

New Product Development (NPD) is one of the most important processes for many organisations. It is the long term life blood of the organisation. Ultimately, it will drive growth, customer value and return to shareholders.

Through a combination of theory, practical examples, New Zealand case-studies and group discussions, you’ll learn how to:

  • Pick the right ideas and position your projects for success.
  • Effectively manage the projects, focusing on timely delivery within budget and scope.
  • Manage conflicts and negotiate successful outcomes.
  • Create an effective team.
  • Fast-track your projects.

top Topics Covered

  1. The "fuzzy front end" and portfolio management is the initial inception period of New Product Development, where both the customer value and the solution are uncertain. This area includes strategic planning, concept development and initial high-level feasibility assessment. It includes locating the proposed new product in strategic context using portfolio management.
  2. Project management of the NPD process involves confirming in detail what we are going to produce; what tasks will be involved; how long it will take to carry out the project, how much it will cost and whether it has an acceptable level of risk. Then monitoring progress and responding to variances.
  3. Practical examples of what actually works in real life managing NPD projects in a New Zealand business context.
  4. Management of multi-disciplinary teams includes the dimension of getting people to do things. It considers organisational structures of the NPD project team, negotiation, communication and motivation.

top Who should attend

The New Product Development Short Course is appropriate if you:

  1. Manage a department or organisation that launches new products and would like to learn how to improve NPD performance.
  2. Find yourself running NPD projects but have no formal project management background.
  3. Are a team member in NPD projects and would like to be more effective.
  4. Are a professional NPD project manager and would like to keep up your training by learning and reflecting through discussion.

top Outcomes

After attending the New Product Development Short Course, you will be able to:

  1. Manage the NPD process from end to end, ensuring it is well planned and executed.
  2. Understand how to effectively organise, coordinate and motivate a multi-disciplinary NPD team.
  3. Deal with typical issues that arise during the NPD process.