The PDMA Handbook of New Product Development

11.5. Common Risks and How to Recognize the Danger Signs

Based on review and the assessment of companies with DNPD programs across several industries and with varying levels of DNPD experience, a common set of risks became apparent. The three most often recited risks were longer than expected development times; projects that were "off spec," missing market needs or needing rework; and jeopardizing the long-term ability of the company to remain competitive.

1. Longer than expected development times or greater than expected costs because of the inefficiency of DNPD processes, primarily driven by the lack of visibility between process checkpoints. In contrast to a nondistributed environment, the frequency and richness of interactions is often diluted in a DNPD environment. Ad-hoc interactions, common in nondistributed environments are either gone or very infrequent, with greater importance being placed on structured interactions to review progress. This is often a hard skill to learn for companies not accustomed to DNPD efforts because it requires changes in behaviors. Common warning signs that suggest you should pay close attention to this risk include:

   • Many teams in multiple geographic locations, perhaps in time zones that make communication more challenging

   • Abnormally long periods of time between formal interactions, especially between development teams working on integral components

   • Absence of informal communication "chatter" between development groups or even emergence of an "us" ...